If you take a look at the
illustration on the right, you will see a diagram outlining the 3-4
defense. The Os in the diagram represent offensive players while
the Xs represent the placement of the defensive players.

You have two defensive ends
(DE), one on each end of the line, and one nose tackle
(NT) in between. Right behind the defensive line are four linebackers
(LB). At times, one or more of the linebackers will line up on the line
of scrimmage.

Two cornerbacks (CB),
one on each side of the field, line up to cover the wide
receivers. There are also two safeties. The exact positioning of
the defensive backs (cornerbacks and
safeties) depends on the type of pass coverage they are in.

3-4 EAGLES DEFENSE

The 3-4 Eagle defense evolved from
Buddy Ryan's 46 defense and Fritz Shurmur first unveiled it with the
Los Angeles Rams in the early 1980s. The alignment is basically the
same as a normal 3-4, but a linebacker is
inserted in the nose tackle's spot, leaving
the formation with just two linemen and five linebackers.

If you take a look at the
illustration on the right, you will see a diagram outlining the 3-4
Eagle defense. The Os in the diagram represent offensive players
while the Xs represent the placement of the defensive players.

Two more linebackers line up as
ends, outside the defensive tackles. The
last two linebackers line up behind the defensive line.

Two cornerbacks (CB),
one on each side of the field, line up to cover the wide
receivers. There are also two safeties. The exact positioning of
the defensive backs(cornerbacks and
safeties) depends on the type of pass coverage they are in.

3rd year WR Rule3rd year Wide Reciever Rule (fantasy
football term) There is a common belief among fantasy
football players that most NFL wide receivers do not "break
out" until their third year in the league. Some recent examples
of players who blossomed in their 3rd year: Santana Moss, Chris
Chambers, Steve Smith, and Javon Walker

4-2-5
DEFENSE Consists
of four defensive linemen,
two linebackers,
and five defensive
backs
(two corners,
a free
safety,
and two strong
safeties).
By bringing the strong safeties up close to the line
of scrimmage
they can be used like linebackers to stop the run or as defensive
backs to cover tight ends, slot
receivers,
or pass receiving running
backs. A
common practice with this formation is to blitz the strong safeties
from the outside. When lined up with the strong safeties close to the
line a quarterback may think that the defense
is in a 4-4 and believe there is a mismatch with a linebacker on a wide
receiver
giving the advantage to the defense. Works best if a team has two
strong, fast, and physical strong safeties and a reliable free safety
to play center field.

The 4-3 defense
is a basic defensive formation that is widely used today. The
alignment features four down
lineman and
three linebackers in the front
seven,
thus the name 4-3.

If you take a look at the
illustration on the right, you will see a diagram outlining the 4-3
defense. The Os in the diagram represent offensive players while the
Xs represent the placement of the defensive players.

Notice the lowest row of Xs on the line
of scrimmage (imaginary line seperating the offense
and defense). You have two
defensive ends (DE), one on each end of the line, and two defensive
tackles (DT) in between. Right behind the defensive line are
three linebackers (LB).

If you take a look at
the illustration on the right, you will see a diagram outlining the
4-4 defense. The Os in the diagram represent offensive players while
the Xs represent the placement of the defensive players.

Notice the lowest row
of Xs near the line
of scrimmage(imaginary
line seperating the offense
and defense).
You have two defensive ends (DE), one on each end of the line, and
two defensive
tackles
(DT) in between. Spread out behind the defensive line are the four
linebackers (LB).

The exact position of
the defensive
backs
(cornerbacks and safety) depends on the type of pass coverage they
are in.

4-4-4 DEFENSE
a Infamous defense, coined by coach and
color commentator John Madden when referring to a penalty having 12
men on the field.

4-6 DEFENSE
a (pronounced four-six defense) a defense
with four (4) down linemen and six (6) linebackers

46 DEFENSE

(pronounced forty-six defense) a
formation of the 4-3 defense (four linemen and three linebackers)
in which three defensive backs(the two cornerbacks
and the strong safety) crowd the line
of scrimmage. The remaining safety, which is the free
safety, stays in the backfield. It is also known as the
"Bear" defense because it was popularized by Buddy Ryan
while coaching for the Chicago Bears.

The 46 Defense designed by
Buddy Ryan at the Chicago Bears and named after the jersey number of
Doug Plank, generally it has more than the normal number of pass
rushers and the pass defenders are in man pass coverage

If you take a look at
the illustration on the right, you will see a diagram outlining the
5-2 defense. The Os in the diagram represent offensive players while
the Xs represent the placement of the defensive players.

Notice the lowest row
of Xs near the line
of scrimmage (imaginary
line seperating the offense
and defense).
You have two defensive ends (DE), one on each end of the line, and
three defensive
tackles
(DT) in between. Behind the defensive line are two linebackers (LB).

The exact position of
the defensive
backs
(cornerbacks and safeties) depends on the type of pass coverage they
are in.

6-1DEFENSE

The 6-1 defense is a
variation of the 4-3 formation. The alignment features four downed
linemen
and three linebackers
in the front
seven,
but two linebackers move up on the defensive line, putting a total of
six defenders on the line.

If you take a look at
the illustration on the right, you will see a diagram outlining the
6-1 defense. The Os in the diagram represent offensive players while
the Xs represent the placement of the defensive players.

Notice the lowest row
of Xs on the line
of scrimmage (imaginary
line seperating the offense
and defense).
You have two defensive
tackles
(DT) in the middle of the line and two defensive ends (DE) ligned up
just outside of the tackles. The outside linebackers move up so they
are lined up on the outside of the defensive ends. The third
linebacker lines up behind the line.

Two cornerbacks (CB),
one on each side of the field, line up to cover the wide
receivers.
There are also two safeties. The exact position of the defensive
backs
(cornerbacks and safeties) depends on the type of pass coverage they
are in.

ACEFORMATION(also
known as the "Lone Setback" or "Single Back"
formation or "Oneback" or "Solo"):
Consists of 1 running back lined up about
five yards behind the quarterback. This formation
can either have four wide receivers,
three wide receivers and a tight end, two
wide receivers and two tight ends, one wide receiver and three tight
ends, or four tight ends (the latter two are very rare). This
formation is good for passing, but is also good for running if a team
has an athletic running back.

A typical Single set back
formation, many variables can be implemented, but this is the basic
setup teams use

This formation has gained
popularity in the NFL as teams have started trading out a fullback,
or blocking back, in favor of another wide receiver or tight end who
is usually faster and better able to receive the ball, while still
helping the run game with down-field blocks. The effectiveness of the
formation is further increased if the team has athletic tight ends
with good hands, thereby increasing the versatility of the formation.
It is, moreover, good for bootlegs and reverses.

Single-back offenses have gained
popularity due to zone blocking and advanced defenses. There are
several combinations of single back formations that are used in
Division 1 and NFL football. Speed offenses will use single back
because the defense still has to respect the run out of these
formations since you can line up many tight ends and still have a
down field running game. Single back offenses create match-up
problems in the defense. Linebackers will often have to cover
receivers in passing routes while defensive safeties are used more to
come up and stop the run on the line of scrimmage. Teams that run a
single-back offense typically rely on quick receivers that run great
routes, balanced tight ends (blocking/receiving), intelligent, shifty
running backs, fast and intelligent offensive lineman, and a
quarterback that can read defenses and make safe throws under
pressure. Single-back offenses are more common in the NFL than in
college or high school.

ADJUSTMENT
change in the approach of a team or player during a game as a result
of less than satisfactory success with the original approach; also
changing defensive alignment in response to offensive shifts or
motions; the ability to make during-game adjustments is a must for
all football coaches; many who do well in the first half but not the
second are manifesting an inability to make appropriate adjustments definition

The AFC currently consists
of 16 teams, organized into four divisions (North, South, East, and
West) of four teams each. Each team plays the other teams in their
division twice (home & away) during the regular season in
addition to 10 other games/teams assigned to their schedule by the
NFL the previous May. Two of these games are assigned on the basis of
the team's final record in the previous season. The remaining 8 games
are split between the roster of two other NFL divisions. This
assignment shifts each year. For instance, in the 2005 regular
season, each team in the NFC East will play a game apiece against
each team in both the AFC West and the NFC West. In this way division
competition consists of common opponents, with the exception of the 2
games assigned on the strength of each team's prior season record.
The NFC operates according to the same system.

At the end of each football season,
there are playoff games involving the top six
teams in the AFC (the four division champions by place standing and
the top two remaining non-division-champion teams ("wildcards")
by record). The last two teams remaining play in the AFC
Championship game with the winner receiving the Lamar Hunt Trophy.
The AFC champion plays the NFC champion in the Super
Bowl.

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
The AFC Championship Game is an American football
game played every year to determine the champion of the American
Football Conference (AFC) of the National Football League (NFL). The
winner receives the Lamar Hunt Trophy and
advances to face the winner of the NFC
Championship Game in the Super Bowl.

It began in 1970 after the merger
between the NFL and the American Football League. The AFC was formed
by joining the 10 former AFL teams with 3 NFL teams: the
then-Baltimore Colts, the Cleveland Browns, and
the Pittsburgh Steelers.

At the end of each football season,
a series of playoff games involving the top six teams in the AFC are
conducted, consisting of the four division champions and two wild
card teams. The two teams remaining play in the AFC Championship game.

AGAINST THE GRAIN
superfluous description of the direction a ball
carrier goes when he cuts back to the opposite side from the
side he was originally running toward as in, "he cut back
against the grain"

AGILLITIESshort for agility drills; drills commonly used by
position coaches during the 10- to 20-minute position-coach period at
the beginning of most football practices; the theory behind them is
that agility is a desirable football skill and agility drills make
players more agile; I do not believe the drills make players better
at football to any significant degree; rather, they make the players
better at doing the agility drill in question; I would appreciate
hearing about any scientific study that proves any football agility
drill pays a game-day dividend worth the practice time it takes; I
suspect the real reasons for the widespread use of agility drills are
they fill practice time and look footballish, that's the way it's
always been done, the logic that agility drills increase agility
seems correct, a number of companies make and/or sell products for
agility drills and therefore have financial incentive to encourage
belief in their efficacy, many coaches are afraid to deviate from
football group norms because it increases the probability they will
be blamed for losses; doing the same as every other coach enables
coaches to subtly blame the players for losses, e.g. "someone
needed to make a play but no one did;" I believe that agilities
should never be used and that the practice time saved is far better
spent on learning assignments, blocking techniques, practicing
reading defenders and throwing passes, option reads, and so forth;
carioca is an agility drill, as are running through tires (now ropes
or a ladder), running around large hoops on the ground, etc.; may be
the best you can do at the college level in the off-season when more
productive activities are prohibited by rule

AIR CORYELL
The "Air Coryell" Offense was originated by Don Coryell
and adopted by his assistant coaches including Joe Gibbs, Jim
Hanifan, and Ernie Zampese. The offense features a power running game
similar to that of former University of Southern California head
coach John McKay. What has made this offense popular is the ability
to stretch the field vertically with the passing game and its
numbered pass routes. The Arizona Cardinals, Dallas Cowboys, Detroit
Lions, San Diego Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, Washington Redskins,
and the University of Maryland are among those who run this type of offense.

The Akron Pros were a National
Football League team that played in Akron,
Ohio
from 1920-1925 and as the Akron Indians in 1926.

The team started out in 1916 as the
Akron Burkhardts, named after a local family of brewers that
sponsored the team. As from 1917 the team competed as the Akron Pros.

The Pros became a charter member of
the NFL (then known as the American Professional Football Association)
in 1920 and won the first ever league title.

Fritz Pollard,
the first African-American head coach in the NFL, co-coached the Pros
in 1921. In 1926, the name was changed to the Akron Indians, which
had been an earlier Akron
semi-pro team, but that didn't help. Because of financial problems,
the team suspended operations in 1927 and surrendered its franchise
the following year.

ARC BLOCK
running-back inward block on a defensive contain man or linebacker;
the word "arc" refers to the blocker taking a somewhat
circuitous route to the blocking target, that is, he initially moves
outward then comes back in to make the block; the running
back's path to the block is roughly a half circle; such a path
often causes the defender being blocked to conclude prematurely that
the running back does not plan to block him

ARENA FOOTBALL LEAGUE

The Arena Football League (AFL) was
founded in 1987 as an American football indoor league. The AFL's
attendance has increased dramatically over the last few years, rising
to over 12,400 people per game in 2005. The AFL also maintains a
minor league called arenafootball2.

ARIZONA CARDINALS -
NFC West

The Arizona Cardinals American
football club is a Phoenix, Arizona-based National Football League
team. In 2006, the club will move to the new Cardinals Stadium in the
suburb of Glendale,
Arizona.

The Cardinals
are the oldest existing American football club in the United
States.
The team was formed in 1898 as the Morgan Athletic Club in Chicago,
Illinois.
The club was then called the Racine Normals since they were
originally located on Racine
Avenue
but moved to Chicago's
Normal Field. They then changed their name to the Racine Cardinals
after they started wearing cardinal red uniforms.

After
becoming a charter member of the NFL in 1920, the club was renamed
the Chicago Cardinals.

In 1932, Charles W. Bidwill bought
the Cardinals. The Bidwills still own the team. (Charles' son,
William V. Bidwill, now operates the team.) Bidwill kept the team
going through the Depression and World War II, and finally managed to
put together a winning unit just as the war ended. Bidwill's building
program produced a team that won the NFL championship in 1947. The
Cardinals' 28-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1947
championship game still stands as the team's last playoff victory.

The Cardinals moved to Saint
Louis, Missouri
in 1960, then relocated to the Phoenix
area in 1988. The team was known as the Phoenix Cardinals before it
started using "Arizona"
in its name in 1994.

The Cardinals have won NFL
Championships in 1925 and 1947. But the team has not won a league
title since then, and thus currently holds the record for the longest
championship drought (period of not winning) in NFL history.

ASTAn acronym
for Assisted tackles
usually found in a Teams or Individual Players STAT ReportsNormally in The DEFENSIVE MISC. STATISTICS

ASTROTURF:
an artificial surface used instead of grass. A grass-like playing
surface manufactured from synthetic materials. It is most often used
in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass.

The advantage of AstroTurf turf
over grass turf is quite evident: an artificial turf requires minimal
maintenance. It is also ideal for indoor stadiums, since it does not
require sunlight. However, an AstroTurf surface is much harder than
one of natural grass. Players describe the impact as similar to
falling on concrete (Vince Lombardi called AstroTurf "fuzzy cement").
Players' cleats can get caught in the turf, which does not give the
way grass and dirt does, causing the injury known as "turf toe".

AstroTurf turf is being replaced in
many stadiums with newer types of artificial turf - two common brands
of this new generation being FieldTurf and Sport Grass. These
materials have properties much closer to natural grass turf.
AstroTurf's version of this new artificial grass was called
AstroPlay, but in 2004, Southwest Recreational Industries, who held
the rights to making AstroTurf, went out of business after filing for
bankruptcy. It is now sold by AstroTurf, LLC.

AstroTurf is a registered trademark
of Textile Management Associates, applied to a particular kind of
artificial turf.

AstroTurf turf was invented in 1965
by employees of Monsanto, patented in 1967, and originally sold under
the name "Chemgrass." It was renamed AstroTurf after its
first well-publicised use at the Houston Astrodome stadium.

ATLANTA
FALCONS - NFC South

The Atlanta Falcons American
football club is a National Football League team based in Atlanta,
Georgia.
The Falcons joined the NFL as a 1966 expansion team.

City:
Atlanta,
Georgia

Head Coach:
Jim L. Mora

Team colors:
Home jerseys are red and white with white letters and black trim.
Away jerseys are white with black letters and red trim.

Helmet design:
Black with a black face mask and a red and black falcon logo with a
grey and white border on both sides, which forms the shape of an F.

ATTAn
acronym for Attempts
usually found in a Teams or Individual Players STAT ReportsNormally in The PASSING, RUSHING and/or RETURN STATISTICS

ATTEMPTS usually
found in STAT ReportsNormally in The:PASSING STATISTICS meaning Pass attempts by a QuartebackRUSHING STATISTICS meaning rush attempts or carries by
a RunningbackRETURN STATISTICS meaning Total attempts (kickoffs/punts)

AUCTION DRAFT (fantasy
football term) A type of fantasy draft in which
owners are allotted a certain amount of fantasy cash to fill their
roster spots by bidding on NFL players. Owners take turns introducing
an opening bid for a player.

AUDIBLE:
(from Latin audire = to hear, to listen to)
An audible is a play called by the quarterback at
the line of scrimmage which changes
the play that was previously called in the huddle; a change of plans
in game play, just before the ball goes into play. Also called an automatic.

An audible is often called by the
quarterback when he doesn't like the play call after getting a look
at the defensive formation.

AUTOMATIC FIRST DOWN for
several of the most severe penalties, including pass interference
and all personal fouls, a first down is rewarded
to the offensive team even if the yardage of that penalty is less
than the yardage needed for a first down.

AVERAGE DRAFT POSITION(fantasy football term)
A report that lists NFL players by the position they were drafted in
fantasy football drafts on average. The source can be mock drafts or
real ones. ADP is a useful draft preparation tool.

Make sure the defensive team has no
more than 11 players on the fieldWatch all eligible
receivers on his side of the fieldWatch the area between the umpire
and field judgeRule on the legality of catches and
pass interference penaltiesWatch for clipping on kick returnsOn field goals, stand under the
goalpost and rule on whether the kick is good

In 1953, Carroll Rosenbloom became
the principal owner of the new NFL Baltimore Colts. In 1958, coached
by Hall of Famer Weeb Ewbank and led by Hall of Fame quarterbackJohnny
Unitas, the Colts defeated the New York Giants at Yankee Stadium
23-17 in the NFL championship game, an overtime contest sometimes
called "The
Greatest Game Ever Played."

The original incarnation of the
Baltimore Colts started in the All-America Football Conference in
1946 as the Miami Seahawks. After a 3-11 season, they moved to Baltimore
in 1947. In 1950, they joined the National Football League and
finished the season with a record of 1 11.

Due to financial difficulties after
the 1-11 losing season, Colts owner Abraham Watner gave his team and
its players contracts back to the NFL for $50,000. But many Baltimore
fans protested the loss of their team. Supporting groups such as its
fan club and its marching band remained in operation and worked for
the team's revival. Three years later a new team was given to Baltimore,
which is now known as the Indianapolis
Colts located in Indianapolis,
Indiana.
The supporting groups, including the fan club and a marching band
remained, however, again working to revive a team in Baltimore.
They were ultimately successful and are now part of the Baltimore
Ravens located in Baltimore,
Maryland.

Faced with the aforementioned
competitive difficulties and wanting a new stadium, team owner Robert
Irsay moved the team to Indianapolis
in Mayflower Transit trucks in the middle of the night on March
29, 1984, after
the Maryland
legislature threatened to give the city of Baltimore
the right to seize the team by eminent domain. Since 1987, the Colts
have had mixed success at best. They have appeared in the playoffs
seven years since then, with their best advance to the AFC
championship game in 1995, when they lost to the Pittsburgh
Steelers 20-16, and in 2003, when they won the AFC South
Division title, defeated the Denver Broncos in the wild-card playoff
(41-10), and advanced to play the Kansas City Chiefs in a divisional
playoff, winning 38-31. In the AFC Championship game, they were
decisively defeated 24-14 by the eventual Super Bowl
champions, the New England Patriots, with quarterback Peyton
Manning throwing four interceptions, in a
game which was widely criticized for its minimal officiating (only
seven penalties were called during the entire game, six of them were
pre-snap fouls).

Meanwhile, most of the prominent
old-time former Baltimore Colts players disassociated themselves from
the team, and instead started to attend events of the Baltimore
Ravens team that began play in 1996.

Many Baltimore
fans who are still bitter about the Colts football team moving from Baltimore
to Indianapolis,
Indiana
in 1984, along with many of the Colts' former players, view the
pre-1984 Baltimore Colts organization and the Ravens as one
continuous entity. In fact, the old Colts marching band and fan club
became part of the Ravens organization.

BALTIMORE
RAVENS - AFC North

The Baltimore Ravens American
football club is a National Football League team based in Baltimore,
Maryland.
They have won one Super Bowl title.

The history of the Baltimore Ravens
is unusual due to the unprecedented actions taken by the cities of
Baltimore and Cleveland,
Ohio,
and the NFL in 1996. On November
6, 1995, then-Cleveland
Browns owner Art Modell announced his intention to move the team
to Baltimore,
citing the inadequacy of Cleveland Stadium and the lack of a
sufficient replacement. The decision triggered a flurry of legal
activity that ended when representatives of both cities and the NFL
reached a settlement on February
9, 1996. It
stipulated that the Browns' name, colors, and history of the
franchise were to remain in Cleveland.
A reactivated Cleveland Browns team would then begin play in 1999,
while the relocated club would technically be a new expansion team,
the Ravens.

However, some consider the Ravens
and the pre-1995 Browns organization as one continuous entity, using
the term The Modell Franchise to denote it. Also, many Baltimore
fans who are still bitter about the Colts football team moving from Baltimore
to Indianapolis,
Indiana
in 1984, along with many of the Colts' former players, view the
pre-1984 Baltimore Colts organization
and the Ravens as one continuous entity. In fact, the old Colts
marching band and fan club became part of the Ravens organization.

City: Baltimore,
Maryland

Head Coach:
Brian Billick

Team Colors:
Black, Purple, and Metallic Gold

Uniform colors:
Black, Purple, Metallic Gold, and White. (The primary home uniform is
a purple jersey and white pants. Traditional away gear (also worn at
home during late summer day games, but mostly on the road, are white
jersies and white pants. In 2004, the team introduced an alternate
attire of black jersey and black pants for select prime-time national
game broadcasts.)

Helmet design:
A black helmet with a purple and black raven's head in profile, with
the letter "B" superimposed in metallic gold and white.
Purple "talons" rise up from the facemask up the center of
the helmet.

BASE DEFENSE
defensive alignment used most often by a team; may also have a
personnel dimension to it; often used when the offense
has 1st & 10; their default defense when
they are not sure what to do; other defenses are typically defined by
the coach in question as modifications of the base defense; an
offense that operates at a hurry-up tempo typically hears the
opposing coaches and linebackers yelling
Base! Base! because they do not have time to call a different defense
between plays

BEAN BAG
Used to mark various spots that are not penalties. For example, it
is used to mark the spot of a fumble, or where a player caught a
punt. It's either colored white or blue, depending on the official's
league, college conference, or level of play.

BERT EMANUEL RULE
the ball can touch the ground during a completed pass as long as the
receiver maintains control of the ball

BERTH:
Ample space or distance to avoid an unwanted consequence

Big An
acronym for Big
Plays - usually found in a Teams or
Individual Players STAT Reports

BIG-IBIG I FORMATION places
a tight end on each side of the offensive
line (removing a wide receiver).
Coupled with the fullback's blocking, this allows two additional
blockers for a run in either direction. This is a running-emphasis variant.

A defensive strategy in which a
linebacker or defensive back vacates his normal responsibilities in
order to pressure the quarterback. The object of a blitz is to tackle
the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage
or force the quarterback to hurry his pass.

When a defensive line is having
trouble putting pressure on the quarterback, the defensive
coordinator may decide to help them out by sending one or more
linebackers or defensive backs on a blitz.

The most common blitzes are
linebacker blitzes. Safety blitzes, when a safety
(usually the free safety) is sent, and
corner blitzes, where a cornerback is sent,
are less common. Sending a defensive back on a blitz is even more
risky than a linebacker blitz, as it removes a primary pass defender
from the coverage scheme, but is also less likely to be picked up by
the offensive teams blockers.

History of The BlitzThe name of the play is taken from
the Blitzkrieg, a German strategy of the "lightning war" during
World War II.

Don Ettinger, a defensive
tackles for the New York Giants, invented the blitz during his
brief NFL career (1948 - 1950). Larry Wilson, free safety for the St.
Louis Cardinals from 1960 to 1972, pioneered and perfected the safety
blitz, a play originally code-named "Wildcat". Defensive
coordinator Chuck Drulis is widely credited with inventing the safety blitz.

BLITZ EFFICIENCY Measures the defensive
effectiveness of the blitz. To figure this rating add the number of
sacks, stuffs, poor throws, quarterback knockdowns, batted passes,
passes thrown away, passes caught out of bounds, and passes dropped
as a result of miscommunication between receiver and quarterback
generated by a team's defense, then divide by total number of blitzes.

BLK An
acronym for Blocked
- usually found in a Teams or Individual
Players STAT Reports

BLOCK:
To contact your opponent, with any part of the body. There are
various types of blocks, such as the basic block (which involves
chest to chest contact), the shoulder block (which, obviously,
involves using one's shoulder to contact), the scramble or reach
block (designed to tangle up an oncoming opponent who is playing
outside of your position), and pass blocking (delaying the
oncoming defensive line to allow your quarterback
to act).

BLOCKING a
legal move occurring when one player obstructs another player's path
with his body. The purpose of blocking is typically to clear a path
for the ball carrier, or to protect the
quaterback. The rules of blocking are very complicated and are
frequently changed to favor either the offensive or defensive team.
As a general rule, one is not allowed to grab someone, or hold
themback. Blocking is also not permitted after five yards from the line
of scrimmage until the quaterback has given the ball to the
runner, or a reciever has secured the ball.

BLOCKINGBELOW
THE WAIST', also called a crackback block(15
yards) - an illegal block, from any direction, below the waist
by any offensive player not on the offensive line (e.g. wide
receivers, quarterbacks and running backs),
by any player after change of possession, by any player in high
school with certain exceptions.

Referee signal: both hands brought
down, wrists turned inward, in a chopping motion across the front of
the thighs.

BLOCKINGSLED
a heavy piece of practice equipment, usually a padded angular frame
on metal skids, used for developing strength and blocking techniques

The quarterback can be accompanied
by an offensive lineman to block for him, or run without a blocker,
which is known as a naked bootleg. More complex versions involve
multiple offensive linemen moving with the quarterback to block and
multiple false hand offs; one such variation is known as a rollout.
After escaping the area behind the offensive line, the quarterback
may either throw a pass downfield or run with the ball himself to
gain yards.

A bootleg is called to confuse the defense,
by moving the quarterback away from where they expect him to be,
directly behind the center.
The quarterback's motion may also attract the attention of the defensive
backs, allowing one of the receivers to
become uncovered. The play is typically used by teams with mobile, or
fast, quarterbacks, such as Michael Vick, Steve Young, and Randall Cunningham.

The names comes from the fact that
on a play action the quarterback often hides the ball from the
defense by his thigh to make the run look more convincing. This is
similar to the way bootleggers would hide whiskey in their trousers
during prohibition.

BOWL GAME:
a college football game played in late-December or early-January,
after the regular season, between two successful teams.

In college football, bowl games are
played in leiu of a playoff system such as
the NFL uses. There are numerous bowl games every year, and a
national champion is crowned by matching up the No.1 and No.2 ranked
teams in a championship bowl game.

BPAn
acronym for Blocked
punts - usually found in a
Teams or Individual Players STAT ReportsNormally in The PUNTING
STATISTICS

BRACKET
A Double team scheme to take away a certain receiver.
There are two types of Bracket coverage: High/Low & In/Out.

High/low coverage involves one
defensive player staying between the line of scrimmage and the
receiver, protecting against short passes, and another defender
playing behind the receiver to protect from deep routes.

Skilled personnel can beat this
coverage, however, based on running a route that breaks to the
inside. On an "in" route the receiver makes a near-90
degree turn to the inside of the field and uses his speed to get away
from the underneath defender. A higher-difficulty option is the
"post" or "skinny post" route, which involves a
turn of 30-60 degrees to the inside. The receiver again uses his
speed to separate from the defender playing underneath, and the
quarterback must deliver the ball over this defender and far enough
inside that the defender protecting against deep passes cannot come
down/across the flight path of the ball and deflect or intercept it.
Though the difficulty on this pass is much higher, its success will
gain many more yards.

In/out coverage is a scheme where
one defender protects against routes run to the inside and another
protects against routes to the outside. The easiest way to beat this
coverage is a simple "go"/streak route: the receiver simply
sprints down the field past the defenders. Any hesitation on the
defenders' part to drop their coverage assignment and run with the
streaking receiver can be exploited.

BROOKLYN
LIONS The
Brooklyn Lions was a National Football League team that played in
1926. The team was formed as the league's countermove to the original
American Football League, which also planned to field a team in Brooklyn
called the Brooklyn Horsemen.

In the months before the regular
season began, both leagues battled with each other for fan support
and the right to play at Ebbets Field. The NFL emerged as the winner,
as the Lions signed the lease to use the stadium on July 20.

Neither the Lions or the Horseman
had much success. In fact, both teams merged just after four games
into the regular season. The team finished the NFL season as the
Brooklyn Lions. But both the Lions and the Horsemen folded following
the season.

A play usually run from a wing-t formation that
includes a variety of play fakes. The quarterback takes the snap and
fakes trap to the fullback. He then hands off to a halfback or
wingback, who runs to the outside. The buck sweep is normally blocked
by pulling the playside gaurd to kickout the force defender, and the
backside gaurd pulling and turning up on the playsided linebacker.
This allows for the other linemen to downblock on the other
defenders, giving the offense an advantage when it comes to blocking
angles. The buck sweep also provides an advantage in the
possibilities off of its action, with the fullback trap before the
sweep, the waggle pass or bootleg after it, and the sweep itself.

The Buffalo Bills American football
club is a Buffalo, New York-based National Football League team which
plays its home games in the suburb of OrchardPark.
The team began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American
Football League and joined the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL Merger.

The Bills won two consecutive AFL
titles in 1964 and 1965. The club is also the first team to appear in
four consecutive Super Bowls, but they lost
all of them.

BUMP AND RUN:
a technique often used by defensive backs, pass defenders,
where they hit a receiver once within 5 yards
(1 yard in college) of the line of scrimmage
to slow him down, in which a defensive player will line up directly
in front of a wide receiver and try to "bump" them with
their arms in order to disrupt their intended route and then follow
him to prevent him from catching a pass.

This varies from the more
traditional defensive formation in which a defensive player will give
the receiver a "cushion" of about 5 yards in order to
prevent the receiver from getting behind them. This tactic is
possible because of the rule allowing defensive players to initiate
contact within five yards of the line of scrimmage

BUST(fantasy
football term) A player, usually drafted in the
first three rounds of a fantasy draft, who is predicted to have a
poor season. The player might be injury-prone, have a future star
behind them in the depth chart, or just won't be able to live up to
their hype

BUTTONHOOK:
A pass route in which the receiver heads
straight downfield, then abruptly turns back toward the line
of scrimmage.

For a buttonhook to be effective,
the receiver must convince the defensive back
covering him that he is going to continue his pattern downfield.

BYE WEEK Each NFL team plays
16 games out of 17 weeks in the NFL schedule. The game that they
don't play is called their bye week.

CANTON
BULLDOGS The
Canton Bulldogs played in Canton,
Ohio
in the National Football League from 1920 - 1923 and 1925 - 1926. In
1924, the owner of a team in Cleveland
bought the team and "mothballed" it, while taking the team
nickname and players to Cleveland
for the season. But the NFL considers the 1925-1926 Canton Bulldogs
to be the same team as the 1920-1923 team.

Jim Thorpe
was Canton's
best player. The team won the 1922 and 1923 NFL titles. As a result
of the Bulldogs early success, the Pro Football Hall of Fame is
located in Canton.

The Carolina Panthers American
football club is a National Football League team based in Charlotte,
North Carolina.
The Panthers, along with the Jacksonville Jaguars, joined the NFL as
1995 expansion teams.

CARR, JOSEPH Joseph
F. Carr (October 22, 1880 - May 20, 1939) was an early figure in
professional football. Carr was born in Columbus,
Ohio.
He founded the Columbus Panhandles football team in 1904. He helped
create the American Professional Football Association (APFA) in 1920
- this league would be renamed the National Football League in 1922.
Carr served as NFL president from 1921 until his death in 1939. He
was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963. Relatives
following his footsteps in sports include Kimberly Carr-Cavallo,
President, Founder & League Commissioner of the United States
Women's Polo Federation, the U.S.'s 16-team pro polo equestrian
sports league.

Preceded by: Jim
ThorpePresident of the National
Football League 1921-1939|Succeeded by: Carl
Storck

After snapping the football, the
center must be ready to block the defensive linemen.

The center is at the center of the
offensive line, and it is the center who snaps the ball between his
legs to the quarterback at the start of each play. On most plays, the
center will snap the ball directly to the quarterback's hands. In a shotgun
formation, the center snaps the ball to the quarterback lined up
several yards behind him. Before the snap, the center will often be
responsible for making calls to adjust the blocking assignments of
all the offensive linemen. After the snap, the center must block
defensive players from reaching the ball carrier
(on running plays) or the quarterback (on passing plays). On passing
plays in particular, the center often must block blitzing defensive
players. In special teams situations, the center is referred to as a
"long snapper," who snaps the ball with two hands to a
punter standing approximately 12-14 yards behind him, or to the
holder for the placekicker, kneeling approximately 7 yards behind
him. These long snappers are often players particularly talented at
performing these snaps, and are not necessarily the same center used
on other plays. In fact, professional football teams may carry a
player on their roster for the sole or primary purpose of long snapping.

The Center for The Indianapolis
Colts is Jeff Saturday

CHAIN CREW:
Assistants to the officials whose job is to
mark where a team begins a series and how far
they need to go to get a first down.

The chain gang brings the
chains onto the field for measurements on plays that end too close to
the first down for the officials to make a determination by simply
comparing the spot of the ball with the marker on the sideline. The
chains are brought out to give an exact measurement from the spot
where the series started.

The Chain Crew are assistants to
the referee who handle the first down measuring chain and the down
indicator box. The members of the chain crew who operate the
measuring chain are called rod men and the person who works the down
indicator box is called the box man.

The down indicator box is a pole
with a sign indicating what the current down is. Before every play
from scrimmage, it is placed on the sideline to mark the current line
of scrimmage.

The first down measuring chain is
used to measure the yards that the offensive team needs to gain a
first down. It is a 10-yard metal chain with poles attached to each
end. The poles, usually called "the sticks", are almost
always covered in bright orange padding.

When a team gains a first
down, one of the rod men places one end of the chain on the sideline
parallel to the spot of the ball. The other rod man then stretches
the chain out to mark the first down line. To ensure an accurate
measurement, a clip is usually attached to the chain on the closest
5-yard mark on the field.

The chains will be brought directly
onto the field whenever the referee needs an accurate measurement to
determine if a first down has been made. A team may also request an
accurate measurement to determine how far they have to reach for the
first down.

For professional and college
football games, an auxiliary chain crew operates on the opposite side
of the field. Here, another "stick" and down indicator box
is used so that players and officials can also look at the other side
of the field to know where the first down line and the line of
scrimmage is, respectively. The auxiliary chain crew also includes
the drive start indicator, which is placed at the beginning of a
team's drive and stays there until they lose possession. This
indicator is only used for statistical purposes to calculate the
distance of each drive. It looks similar to a "stick", but
it has an arrow that points in the direction to where the offensive
team is going.

Members of the chain crew are
usually picked by the offices of the home team instead of the league
or conference that they play in.

Brilliant in the backfield,
exceptional at end - that is a simple summary of Guy Chamberlin's
talents. He was born January
16, 1894, in Blue
Springs, Nebraska.
He played halfback for Nebraska Wesleyan in 1911-12, and helped the
team to 7-0 and 5-2-1
records. He transferred to the University
of Nebraska.
The team was 7-0-1 in 1914 with Chamberlin at halfback scoring on
runs of 90, 85, 70 and 58 yards.

He was
moved to end in 1915, and made All-America as Nebraska
moved to an 8-0 record. The Cornhuskers beat Notre Dame 20-19. Knute
Rockne, then a Notre Dame assistant coach, called Chamberlin the key
to Nebraskas
victory. For his final college game, November
20, 1915, he
moved back to halfback and scored five touchdowns in a 52-7 romp over Iowa.

Born: Jan.
16, 1894, Blue
Springs, NEDied: April
4, 1967

He was elected to the College
Football Hall of Fame in 1962,and to the Pro Football Hall of
Fame in 1965.

He served in World
War I and then played pro football for eight years, from 1920-27.
George Halas called him the greatest two-way end in the history of
the game. He stood 6- 1, weighed 200, and was outstanding on offense
and defense. For six of his pro years he was player-coach.

He went
back to Nebraska,
ran a farm, and was state livestock inspector. Chamberlin died April
4, 1967. In that
year the University
of Nebraska
founded the Chamberlin Trophy, given annually to the outstanding
senior football player.

CHAMBERLIN TROPHY
given annually to the outstanding senior football player. Founded
after Guy Chamberlin.

CHEAP SHOT:
A deliberate foul or other violent act against an unsuspecting player.

CHEAT SHEET(fantasy
football term)
A drafting tool that lists NFL players ranked in order of predicted
fantasy points; however there are no accompanying stats, so it is
possible that it isn't accurate for a league's scoring system

CHECK OFF:
Changing a play at the line of scrimmage
by calling out a predetermined set of signals.

CHEERLEADER:
a performer who makes the crowd cheer: a member of a group of
uniformed performers who encourage the crowd to support a team at
sports events

Cheerleading is an activity that
uses organized routines made up of elements from dance and/or
gymnastics to cheer on sports teams at games and matches, and/or as a
competitive sport.

Cheerleaders are present at all NFL
Professional Football games, each team has its own set of
cheerleaders who dance, cheer and spur the crowd on. But Cheerleading
is not restricted to American Football in fact Cheerleading is a
recognized sport of its own. Its beginnings though are by no means as
glamorous a spectacle as they are today.

The Chicago Bears American football
club is a National Football League team based in Chicago,
Illinois.
The club began play in 1919 and became a charter member of the NFL
in 1920.

The Bears have won 9 total league
titles, including 8 NFL Championships and Super Bowl XX. They have
played in over 1,000 games and currently lead the NFL in overall
franchise wins with over 660. The Bears also lead the league in the
number of Pro Football Hall of Fame players with 26 enshrinees.

Offensive linemen often try
to cut defensive linemen by using chop blocks.

CHUCK and DUCK a
style of offense with minimal pass protection
requiring the quarterback to "chuck" the
ball then "duck" to avoid a defensive lineman.

CHUCKING:
Warding off an opponent who is in front of a defender by contacting
him with a quick extension of arm or arms, followed by the return of arm(s)
to a flexed position, thereby breaking the original contact.

Stiff arm

CINCINNATI
BENGALS - AFC North

The Cincinnati Bengals American
football club is a National Football League team based in Cincinnati,
Ohio.
The Bengals began play in the American Football League as a 1968
expansion team, and joined the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL Merger.

The most commonly recognized
contribution comes from the "Ickey Shuffle", a celebratory
dance created by Bengals running back
Ickey Woods in his rookie season of 1988 during the Bengals' Super
Bowl run. This dance, done after Woods would score a touchdown, was
the catalyst for the NFL instituting penalties against excessive
celebratory performances (resulting in the backronym "No
Fun League"), and before the
1989 season was over it was relegated to the sidelines.

CLEAVLAND BROWNS -
AFC North

The Cleveland Browns American
football club is a National Football League team based in Cleveland,
Ohio.
The Browns began play in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America
Football Conference and joined the NFL in 1950 after the AAFC merged
into the older league. The team has won 4 AAFC titles and 4 NFL Championships.

In some accounts, there may be
confusion regarding the team's history due to unusual and
unprecedented actions taken by the cities of Cleveland, Baltimore,
Maryland
and the NFL in 1996. On November
6, 1995,
then-Browns owner Art Modell announced his intention to move the team
to Baltimore,
citing the inadequacy of Cleveland Stadium and the lack of a
sufficient replacement. The decision triggered a flurry of legal
activity that ended when representatives of both cities and the NFL
reached a settlement on February
9, 1996. It
stipulated that the Browns' name, colors, and history of the
franchise were to remain in Cleveland.
A reactivated Cleveland Browns team would then begin play in 1999,
while the relocated club would technically be a new expansion team,
the Baltimore Ravens.

For that reason, past records and
Pro Football Hall of Fame players are attributed to the Browns and
not to the Ravens. However, some consider the Ravens and the pre-1995
Browns organization as one continuous entity, using the term The
Modell Franchise to denote it.

Team owner Art Modell complained that he wanted a new stadium in the
late 1980s. Cleveland City Council offered Modell an indoor stadium
that would seat 68,000. Modell was upset that the new stadium would
be too small, so he decided to put his own money into renovation of
the old Cleveland Stadium. After seeing new stadiums built for other
major teams, after years of complaining that a new stadium would be
necessary to sustain the viability of the franchise, and despite
years of sellouts and profitability, in November 1995, Modell
announced he would relocate the Browns to Baltimore,
Maryland for 1996.

The announcement was met with unprecedented resistance from Browns
fans, with over 100 lawsuits filed by fans, the city of Cleveland,
and a host of others. Virtually all of the team's sponsors
immediately pulled their support, leaving Cleveland Stadium devoid of
advertising during the team's final weeks. Modell was forced to
resign from the membership (and in many cases, leadership positions)
of local civic and charitable organizations, and would literally be
forced to leave the city - never to return.

The 1995 season was a disaster on the field, too. After starting 3-1,
the rumors and eventual announcement cast a pall on the team, who
finished 5-11. When fans in the Dawg Pound became rowdy during their
final home game against the Cincinnati Bengals, action moving towards
that end zone had to be moved to the opposite end of the field.

In early 1996, the National Football League announced that the team
would be 'deactivated' for three years, and that a new stadium would
be built for a new Cleveland Browns team that would begin play in
1999. Modell would in turn be granted a new franchise for Baltimore,
the Baltimore Ravens, and the Browns' history, records, awards and
archives would remain in Cleveland,
to be given to the new franchise when restored.

City:
Cleveland,
Ohio

Head Coach:
Romeo Crennel

Team Colors:
Brown, Orange,
and White

Uniform colors: Brown
(officially "Seal Brown") and Orange

Helmet design:
Orange
helmet with brown and white center stripe. No logo(for one preseason game in
1965 the initials "CB" in brown appeared on each side).

CLEVELANDBULLDOGS
The Cleveland Bulldogs was a team that played in Cleveland,
Ohio
in the National Football League. They were called the Indians
in 1923. The team's owner bought the defending NFL champions Canton
Bulldogs. He "mothballed" the Canton
team and took its players and name to Cleveland
in 1924 and won the NFL championship. In 1925 owner Sam Deustch, sold
the Canton
franchise to local owners, and sold his club to Herb Brandt. The Canton-less
Bulldogs fell to a dismal 5-8-1.
Brandt received authority from the league to suspend operations for
a year. They returned in 1927, bolstered by players from the folded Kansas
City franchise. However, the front office success didn't match
the play on the field, and the team folded.

CLEVELAND INDIANS
The Cleveland Indians was the name of three separate National
Football League teams from Cleveland,
Ohio.
They played in the 1921 (formerly the Tigers), 1923 (from 1924-25,
and 1927 called the Bulldogs) and 1931 seasons.

The 1931 team was a
league-sponsored club that only played games on the road. The NFL
intended to locate this team permanently in Cleveland,
but when no suitable owner was found it folded after one season.

CLIPCLIPPING:
Throwing the body across the back of an opponent's leg or hitting
him from the back below the waist while moving up from behind unless
the opponent is a runner or the action is in close line play.

Referee signal: hand striking the
back of the leg.

Clipping is a foul, with a 15-yard
penalty.

CLOSED FACE MASK
The closed cage usually is the choice of linesmen because the closed
cagevertical bar running the length of the mask over the nose with
two, three, or four horizontal bars - helps to keep other players'
fingers and hands out of their eyes. In the 1970s, vinyl coating was
layered onto the bars to protect against chipping and abrasions.

Soon, colors were added to the face
masks as another way to distinguish players and teams.See Facemask

CLOTHESLINE:
A foul. To clothesline is to strike another player across the face
with one's extended arm.

CLOSE LINE PLAY:
The area between the positions normally occupied by the offensive
tackles, extending three yards on each side of the line
of scrimmage.

CLUTH
In American sports terminology, "clutch"
means performing well under extreme pressure. It often refers to high
levels of production in a critical game such as an NFL
Playoff Game. Being "clutch" is often (perhaps
erroneously) seen by sportswriters and fans as an innate skill
to be possessed

CM(also COM, COMP)
An acronym for Completions
- usually found in a Teams or Individual Players STAT ReportsNormally in The PASSING STATISTICS

COACH:
The trainer of the team who also formulates offensive and defensive
strategy. In professional football there is a head coach assisted by
several other coaches specializing in certain areas of training, such
as offense, defense,
strength training, etc.

COFFIN CORNER:
One of the four corners of the field.

a punter may try to place the ball
so that it lands and goes out of bounds, or is downed, near a corner
of the playing field just in front of the end zone, thus forcing
difficult field position for the receiving team on their next
scrimmage. By extension from the real-life usage of the term
described above, the corner the punter is aiming for in that
situation is sometimes called the "coffin corner", for if
the kick is only slightly too far in either direction (out of
bounds or into the end zone) a touchback is awarded the ball will
be placed on the twenty yard line, losing the advantage that comes
with a successful execution of the kick.

COIN TOSS:

Before the start of the game, the quarterback
of the visiting team calls heads or tails of a coin flipped by the referee.
The winning team kicks off; the loser chooses which goal
to defend.

The game begins with a kickoff,
which is one type of free kick. Prior to the game, captains from
each team participate in a coin toss. The winner of the toss may make
one of four choices: to kickoff, to receive and have the other team
kickoff, to choose to defend one end of the field, or to choose to
defend the other end. The toss winner nearly always chooses to
receive; the other team then may choose from the remaining options,
usually choosing which end of the field to defend. In amateur
football, the winner of the toss may also defer their choice to the
second half and give the other team first choice of options in the
first half. This is typically done when the captain winning the toss
wants to receive to start the second half.

A kickoff is also used to start the
second half of the game. The team who did not get first choice at the
coin toss now chooses; likewise, they nearly always choose to
receive. Kickoffs also take place after each touchdown and field
goal, with the scoring team kicking off.

COM(also
CM, COMP) An acronym for Completions
- usually found in a Teams or Individual Players STAT ReportsNormally in The PASSING STATISTICS

COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD
The NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award has been given out after
every season since 1972, except for 1985 when no winner was selected.
The player named Comeback Player of the Year shows perseverance in
overcoming adversity, in the form of not being in the NFL the
previous year, a severe injury, or simply poor performance.

COMP An acronym
for Completions usually found in a
Teams or Individual Players STAT ReportsNormally in The PASSING STATISTICS

COMPLETE PASS:
a forward pass to a teammate who catches it in the air. A legally
caught pass.

CONTACT SPORT:
Any sport involving physical contact between players. Football is a
contact sport, as are hockey, boxing, and soccer.

CONTROLLING THE GAME CLOCKCONTROLLING THE PLAY CLOCKCONTROLLING THE TIME CLOCK:
the use of tactics by an offensive team to either save or use up
time on the game clock, which often dictates its choice of plays.

CONVERSION
First, it is used to describe when the offensive term advances the
ball beyond the "first down"
marker during a series of downs. When the offense
does this they are allotted a new set of downs (it is considered
first down again). Secondly, after the offense has scored a touchdown,
they will try to score an extra point(also
called extra point conversion).

(1898-1970), American
football player, coach, and team owner, whose career included two
National Football League (NFL) championships

Pro Football Hall of Fame

While Jimmy Conzelman was a
success at most of his endeavors, which included stints as a
newspaper publisher, playwright, author, orator, and actor, it was
primarily as a football player and coach that he excelled.

A halfback at WashingtonUniversity
in St. Louis,
he began his post-college career as a member of the Great Lakes Navy
team that won the 1919 Rose Bowl. One of his Great
Lakes teammates
was George Halas, who recruited him for his 1920 Decatur Staleys team
in the newly formed American Professional Football Association, which
later changed its name to the National Football League.

After one season with the Staleys,
Conzelman moved on to the Rock Island Independents where he began his
career as a player-coach. He stayed with the Independents through
seven games of the 1922 season before jumping to the Milwaukee
Badgers for the remainder of the season and the 1923 season. Offered
an NFL franchise in Detroit
in 1925 for a reported $100 investment, Conzelman became an NFL
owner. Although the team was fairly successful on the field (8-2-2
in 1925 and 4-6-2
in 1926) the team received little support from the MotorCity fans.

Eventually he returned the
franchise back to the league and in 1927 joined the Providence Steam
Roller as the player-coach. Quarterback Conzelman suffered a knee
injury in 1928, but coach Conzelman led the team to an 8-1-2
record and the NFL title. Conzelman left Providence
in 1930 wanting to try his hand at other careers. But, in 1940, the
popular Irishman was lured back into the NFL with the Chicago
Cardinals. He helped the team stay strong during the challenging
World War II years before leaving to work in major league baseball.
In 1946, Conzelman returned to the Cardinals. The following year his
Cards won the NFL title and in 1948 a second straight division title
but lost 7-0 to the Philadelphia Eagles in the title game.

Conzelman retired after that season
with an overall professional record of 82 wins, 69 losses, and 14 ties.

CORNER ROUTE(an
offensive play) a pattern run by a receiver in
American Football, where the receiver runs up the field at
approximately a 45 degree angle, heading away from the quarterback
towards the sideline. Usually, the pass is used when the defensive
back is playing towards the inside shoulder of the receiver, thus
creating a one on one vertical matchup. The corner route is less
likely to be intercepted when compared to the slant route, because it
is thrown away from the middle of the field. The pass is used
frequently in the West Coast offensive scheme, where quick, accurate
throwing is key.

CORNERBACK:
(CB or DB) (also referred to as a corner)
A defensive player who generally lines up on the outside of the
formation and is usually assigned to cover a wide
receiver.

A defensive backfield
player, almost as deep into the backfield as
the safety. There are two cornerbacks. Their job is to tackle runners
and intercept passes.

Either one of the two defensive
backs who plays behind and to the outside of the linebackers,
and whose duties include defending against passes and stopping
running plays to the outside.

A position in football, more
broadly classified as a defensive back. As this suggests, he is
indeed a defensive player. The modern cornerback is ideally very
fast, agile, and has good football instinct. Like any defensive
player, he must be able to react faster than his opponent, since he
does not have the benefit of knowing where a play is going to go.
Essential skills for a cornerback include backpedaling, jumping,
staying with his man, anticipating a pass route and reading the quarterback.

Most defensive
formations in modern pro football use 4 defensive backs. Two of
these are safeties, and two of them are corners. A corner's
responsibilities vary depending on the type of coverage called.
Coverage is simply how the defense will be
protecting against the pass. A corner will be given one of two ways
to defend the pass (with variations that result in more or less the
same responsibilities): zone and man-to-man. In zone coverage, the
cornerback is responsible for an area on the field. In this case, the
corner must always stay downfield of whoever it is covering while
still remaining in its zone, always between the sideline and the
opposing player. Zone is a more relaxed defensive scheme meant to
provide more awareness across the defensive secondary while
sacrificing tight coverage. As such, the corner in this case would be
responsible for making sure nobody gets outside of him, always, or
downfield of him, in cases where there is no deep safety help. In man
coverage, however, the cornerback is solely responsible for the man
across from him, usually the offensive player split farthest out.

Jersey
Numbers: 20 - 49

COUNT
The offensive count is the numbers, signals
and a specific cadence that the Quarterback shouts
signaling for the center to hike
the ball to initiate a play. Sometimes the Quarterback will
shout a long count, with many signals in an attempt to confuse or
draw the defense to off sides

COUNTER (an
offensive play) a
running play in which the running back
will take a step in the apparent direction of the play (ie, the
direction the line is moving), only to get the handoff in the
other direction. Weak side linemen will sometimes pull and lead the
back downfield (sometimes called a counter trap), but not
necessarily. The play is designed to get the defense
to flow away from the action for a few steps as they follow the
linemen, allowing more room for the running back.

This play is designed for the
offensive team to feign rushing one way, then attacking the defense
in the opposite direction. In a counter trey right, the center, right
guard, and right tackle block left as if the play is going left. The
left guard and left tackle "pull" from their positions by
moving behind the other linemen and around the right corner.

The running back takes an initial
feint step to the left, then cuts back to the right, receives the
handoff from the quarterback, and follows behind the pulling left
guard and left tackle. The left guard and left tackle will usually be
blocking smaller linebackers and defensive backs downfield--this
mismatch favors the offense. The counter trey requires quick,
athletic linemen for good execution.

Many teams have run this play, but
it first became well-known when run by the Washington
Redskins in the 1980s. In particular, guard Russ Grimm and
tackle Joe Jacoby would open up massive holes for John Riggins,
George Rogers, and Earnest Byner.

COVER:
To defend a position or location on the field. Preventing a player
from gaining yards; in pass coverage, a defender follows a receiver
to prevent him from catching a pass; in kick coverage, members of the
kicking team try to prevent a long kick return.

COVER 0COVERZERO
Strict man-to-man coverage with no help from safeties (usually a
blitz play with at least five men crossing the line of scrimmage)

Cover 0 refers to pure man coverage
with no deep defender. Similar to Cover 1, Cover 0 has the same
strengths and weaknesses.COVER 1COVER ONE Man-to-man
coverage with at least one safety not assigned a player to cover who
can help out on deep pass routes.

Cover 1 schemes employ only one
deep defender, usually a safety. Many underneath coverages paired
with Cover 1 shells are strictly man-to-man with LBs and defensive
backs each assigned a different offensive player to cover. By using
only one deep defender in Cover 1, the other deep defender is free to
blitz the quarterback or provide man-to-man pass coverage help.

Cover 1 schemes are usually very
aggressive, preferring to proactively disrupt the offense by giving
the quarterback little time to make a decision while collapsing the
pocket quickly. This is the main advantage of Cover 1 schemes--the
ability to blitz from various pre-snap formations while engaging in
complex man-to-man coverage schemes post-snap. For example, a safety
may blitz while a CB is locked in man coverage with a WR. Or the CB
may blitz with the safety rotating into man coverage on the WR post-snap.

The main weakness of Cover 1
schemes is the lone deep defender that must cover a large amount of
field and provide help on any deep threats. Offenses can attack Cover
1 schemes with a vertical stretch by sending two receivers on deep
routes, provided that the quarterback has enough time for his
receivers to get open. The deep defender must decide which receiver
to help out on, leaving the other in man coverage which may be a mismatch.

A secondary weakness is inherent
its design: the use of man coverage opens up yards after catch lanes.
Man coverage is attacked by offenses in various ways that try to
isolate their best athletes on defenders by passing them the ball
quickly before the defender can react or designing plays that clear
defenders from certain areas thus opening yards after catch lanes.

COVER 2COVER TWO DEFENSE

Cover Two zone scheme known as Tampa
Two, so named because it took hold with coach Tony
Dungy'sTampa Bay Buccaneers of the
late 1990s and early 2000s. It has become the most popular defense in
the NFL, a bend-but-don't-break scheme that forces offenses to
execute down the length of the field five yards at a time.

The entire concept of the Cover 2
is to make it hard to pass on you. The name comes from the position
of the safeties, who both play deep zone coverage.
In this normally 4-3 coverage scheme,
your safeties play further back, while your linebackers
and cornerbacks play zone coverage
underneath the safeties. Each person underneath covers about 1/5th
the width of the field for about 7 yards deep. The two safeties split
the field and each cover half against the deep pass.

As Ron Meeks, the Indianapolis
Colts' defensive coordinator states it, "We play with so much
energy and speed. "When the ball is thrown, we're like piranhas.
We're attacking the ball carrier, attacking the receivers, trying to
inflict as much pain and play with as much energy as we can. A lot of
it is an attitude."

That aggressive approach is the
foundation of the Tampa 2, the style of Cover 2
defense made popular by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers under Tony Dungy,
starting in the mid- to late-1990s. Actually, it all started in the
1970s with Bud Carson's Steelers defenses, for whom Dungy played
defensive back. Dungy learned the Cover 2 from Carson.

In Cover 2, two safeties play
zone (area) coverage, each of them responsible for half of the
field. Dungy's Bucs had great success dropping a speedy middle
linebacker (the "Mike") down the middle of the field
to defend the pass, creating a three-deep look, while four often
undersized but quick defensive linemen rushed the passer. And so, the Tampa
2 was born.

So, too, was a trend. Nowadays,
most every defense in the league has some form of the Tampa
2 in its package. But no one is making the Tampa
2 do what it does better than the originators -- Dungy in Indianapolis,
Smith in Chicago and longtime coordinator Monte Kiffin in Tampa.
The Bears and Colts are division champions, and the Bucs a victory
away from making it three-for-three for Tampa
2 teams.

The "Cover 2" is a zone
defense in which every defender is responsible for a specific area of
the field. Instead of playing man to man it's more of a zone type
defense where you defend a certain part of the field.

The two safeties, playing well off
the line of scrimmage, cover the deep passing routes, while also
directing the strategy and of the rest of the defense. Each
additional member of the defense is responsible for a specific area
of the field.

After the play begins by the
opposing Teams Offense, each of the defenders keeps his eyes on the
ball and reacts quickly to it, be it a run or a pass. The Cover 2
scheme works best when out-fitted with high-energy personnel that
excel at responding quickly to the play and attacking the ball. When
executed properly by experienced, skilled personnel, the Cover 2
defense is unbeatable. The Cover 2 defense is thus adaptable to the
myriad formations and schemes brought forth by the competition.

COVER 3COVER THREE Zone
coverage as above, only with extra help from a cornerback, so that
each player covers one-third of a deep zone.

Cover 3 refers to 3 deep defenders
each guarding one-third of the deep zone. Cover 3 schemes are usually
used to defend against passes, mainly those towards the deep middle
of the field. Unlike Cover 2 schemes that create a natural hole
between safeties, Cover 3's extra deep defender is able to patrol the
middle area effectively.

The most basic Cover 3 scheme
involves 2 CBs and a safety. Upon snap, the CBs work for depth,
backpedaling into their assigned zone. One safety moves toward the
center of the field. The other safety is free to rotate into the flat
area (about 2-4 yards beyond the line of scrimmage), provide pass
coverage help, or blitz.

As with other coverage shells,
Cover 3 is paired with underneath man or zone coverage in its most
basic form.

The main weakness of Cover 3 shells
is the 2 retreating CBs. Since the CBs are working for depth, short
pass routes underneath the CB can isolate him on a wide receiver near
the sideline with little help.

COVER 4COVER FOUR As a Cover
3, with the corners and safeties dropping into deep coverage,
with each taking one-fourth of the width of the field. Also referred
to as Quarters.

Cover 4 refers to 4 deep defenders
each guarding one-fourth of the deep zone. Cover 4 schemes are
usually used to defend against deep passes. (See Prevent defense).

The most basic Cover 4 scheme
involves 2 CBs and 2 safeties. Upon snap, the CBs work for depth,
backpedaling into their assigned zone. Both safeties backpedal
towards their assigned zone.

As with other coverage shells,
Cover 4 is paired with underneath man or zone coverage in its most
basic form.

The main weakness of Cover 4 shells
is the retreating defensive backs. Since the DBs are working for
depth, short pass routes underneath can isolate them on a wide
receiver near the sideline with little help.

CRACKBACK Eligible
receivers who take or move to a position more than two yards
outside the tackle may not block an opponent below the waist if they
then move back inside to block.

CRACKBACK BLOCK:
Blocking by an offensive player who goes downfield then turns back
to the middle to block a player from the side.

This is an illegal block by an
offensive player who is usually spread out away from the main body of
the formation and runs back in towards the ball at the snap, blocking
an opponent below the waist or in the back with the force of the
block back toward the original position of the ball at the snap.

An illegal crackback block is penalized
15 yards against the
offending team.

CURLCURL IN:
a pattern run by a receiver, where the receiver looks to be running
a Fly pattern but after a set amount of steps or yards will quickly
stop and turn around, looking for a pass. This generally works best
when the defending corner or safety commits himself to guarding the
fly and is unable to stop quickly enough to defend the pass.

The curl is a pattern used
frequently by the West Coast offensive scheme, where quick and
accurate passes are favored.

CUT:
1.To suddenly change direction to lose a pursuing player.
2. To drop a prospective player from the team roster.

CUT BACK:
a sudden change in direction taken by a to make it more difficult
for defenders to follow and tackle him.

CUT BLOCKING
a blocking technique in which offensive linemen, and sometimes other
blockers, block legally below the waist (i.e., from the front of the
defensive player) in an attempt to bring the defenders to ground,
making them unable to pursue a running
back for the short time
needed for the back to find a gap in the defense.
The technique is somewhat controversial, as it carries a risk of
serious leg injuries to the blocked defenders.

The NFL's Denver Broncos are
especially famous (or infamous) for using this technique.

The Dallas Cowboys American
football club is a Dallas, Texas-based National Football League team
which plays its home games in the suburb of Irving.
The Cowboys joined the NFL as a 1960 expansion team. The team is
sometimes referred to colloquially as America's
Team due to its having a large fanbase that lives outside its
immediate local area (the term itself is derived from the title of
the team's 1979 highlight film).

Uniform colors:
White jerseys have royal blue numbers and lettering; colored jerseys
feature a darker shade of blue as background (similar to that of
the star logo) with white numbers and lettering. By tradition,
and unlike most NFL teams, the Cowboys normally wear their white
jerseys at home (although they may wear their colored jerseys
during special occasions). In the 2003 season, the Cowboys
revived their 1962 throwback uniform (blue jersey with white
sleeves) for special occasions such as Thanksgiving; it was also
worn on September
19, 2005 against
the Washington Redskins.

Year founded: 1960

City:
Irving,
Texas

Helmet design:
Silver background with a blue star(throwback helmet is white with
a blue star)

Team Colors:
Royal Blue, Metallic Silver, Blue, and White

Head Coach:
Bill Parcells

Home field: Texas
Stadium (1971-present)

DAYTON TRIANGLES
Dayton Triangles of the National Football League played from 1920 to
1929. The team was based in Dayton,
Ohio.
The nickname "Triangles" came from the name of TrianglePark,
located at the confluence of the Great Miami and Stillwater
rivers, in north Dayton
where the team played its games. The first game of the American
Professional Football Association, the precursor to the NFL, was
played in TrianglePark
between the Dayton Triangles and the Columbus Panhandles on October
3, 1920. The
Triangles won that game 14-0. The Triangles were sponsored by the
Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co. (Delco), the Dayton Metal
Products Co. (D.M.P. Co.), and the Domestic Engineering Co. (DECO,
later called Delco-Light). The team was sold to a group in Brooklyn,
New York
and became the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1930.

Deacon Jones
David D. "Deacon" Jones (born December
9, 1938
in Eatonville,
Florida)
nicknamed "Secretary of Defense" is an American athlete
and actor. Jones played professional football, and is considered to
be one of the greatest defensive ends of all time. Jones specialized
in quarterback
sacks, a term attributed to him. An extremely durable player, Jones
missed only five games of a possible 196 regular-season encounters in
his 14 NFL seasons. He is also noted for perfecting the so-called
"head slap."

Deacon Jones ruleEnacted in 1977 - The Deacon Jones rule, which eliminated
head slapping. Jones was a master at ringing bells inside the
offensive linemens heads. They say he may have contributed more
concussions to the game than any other player in the entire history
of the NFL. If you dont believe it hurts, put on a helmet, and have
someone slam an open palm against one side, over the ear hole. Youll
be seeing stars for a long time.

DEAD BALL:
A ball that is no longer in play, that is, a ball that is not held
by a player or loose from a kick, fumble, or pass. A ball becomes
dead when a play is over and becomes live as soon as it is snapped
for the next play.

A play from scrimmage ends when the
ball is dead; this occurs when one of the following happens:

the ballcarrier is downeda forward pass falls incomplete;the ball or ballcarrier goes
outside the field of play ("out of bounds")the ball, except on a field goal
attempt, hits any part of the goalpost (even if it bounces back
onto the field);a team scores;a punt receiver makes a fair
catch;a member of the punting team
"downs" a punt by touching the ball before any member of
the receiving team;a punted ball comes to rest; ora touchback occurs.

DECATUR STALEYS
Presently The Chicago Bears, one of the most
storied NFL teams. Since becoming a charter member of the league in
1920, they have played in over 1,000 games. Through the 2004 season,
they led the NFL in overall franchise wins with 660. They were
founded in 1919 by the A.E. Staley Company in Decatur,
originally as the company team, a typical start for several of the
classic NFL franchises. Staley hired George Halas and Edward
"Dutch" Sternaman in 1920 to run the team and turned
control of the team over to them in 1921.

George Halas was hired in
1920 by A. E. Staley of the Staley Manufacturing Co. (whose primary
product was cornstarch) to form both a football and a baseball team
for the company. In order to find opponents, Halas pushed the
football team into the new league that was being formed, the American
Professional Football Association. A severe recession in early 1921
forced Staley to lay off the athletes he had hired; he suggested to
Halas that the football team should move to Chicago,
and said he would provide $5000 to assist in the move if the club
would keep the name "Staleys" for one season. Thus, in
1921, Halas's men were called the Chicago Staleys when they became
the first official league champion. Despite the championship, the
team lost money that first season in Chicago:
about $70. The next year, the franchise was renamed the Bears -- to
accentuate its association with the Cubs, with whom it shared Wrigley
Field (hoping that some of the Cubs' success would rub off: how times
change!) -- while the league was retitled to the National Football
League (at George Halas's suggestion).

Edward "Dutch" Sternaman,
who was Halas's teammate at the University
of Illinois,
was his partner during the early years of the Bears. Staley actually
first approached Sternaman to form his teams; but Sternaman, though
tempted, returned to Illinois
to finish his degree. He joined the Staley company after graduating
and helped Halas to first put the football team together, and later
as co-owner move it to Chicago. Dutch's little brother Joey, another Illinois
grad, became the Bears' first great quarterback
during the '20s. The relationship between Halas and his partner grew
increasingly stormy as the decade progressed, and Sternaman began
devoting ever increasing amounts of time to other business interests.
When the conflicts between the two began hurting the team's success
at the beginning of the Great Depression, Halas bought Sternaman out.

Dutch Sternaman has been
credited with coining the phrase, "When in doubt, punt!"
which he apparently used in a 1924 pre-game pep talk.

Moving to Chicago
was not exactly a sure thing. The city already had a professional
team: the Racine Cardinals -- named for their home field at 61st and Racine
Avenue
on Chicago's
South Side. The city had had two APFA franchises in 1920; the
Cardinals had a nearby rival named the Chicago Tigers. The two teams
hurt each other's attendance; they agreed their season-ending game in
1920 was for the rights to the city. The Cardinals won, and the
Tigers disbanded as they had agreed. Under the circumstances, the
Cardinals couldn't have been happy about Halas's transfer to Chicago
for the 1921 season, but it obviously worked out. Evidently the
Staleys were far enough away in Wrigley Field that they didn't
threaten the Cardinals' financial viability - although the
rivalry that developed between the Bears and Cardinals became in some
ways even more bitter than that with the Packers. Like the Bears and
the league, the Cardinals also changed their name for the 1922
season: they switched to "the Chicago Cardinals" when Racine,
Wis.,
was awarded an NFL franchise.

DEFENSE:
the team that begins a play from scrimmage not in possession of the ball.

The team defending their goal line.
The defense does not have the ball; rather, they attempt to keep the offense
from passing or running the ball over their (the defense's) goal line.

Unlike the offensive team, there
are no formally defined defensive positions. A defensive player may
line up anywhere on his side of the line
of scrimmage and perform any legal action.

DEFENSIVE BACK
: (DB) Any one of the four members of the defensive
backfieldthe two safeties and the two cornerbackswho
are positioned behind the linebackers.
It's the job of the defensive backs to defend against passes and give
support on running plays.

Defensive back is a
defensive position in American and Canadian football. Defensive Backs
are charged with the responsibility of preventing receivers from
catching passes. However, similar to other defensive players,
Defensive backs can also sack the quarterback and
tackle running backs.

It should be noted that
"Defensive Back" is a collective term for several other
positions, which include cornerbacks, as well as Strong and Free
Safeties. Alternately, this term may be referred to as the
"defensive secondary".

While defensive backs must exhibit
superb displays of speed and agility, they are also required to
master the crucial technique of backpedaling, which enables one to
follow a receiver while still focusing on the football. Furthermore,
Defensive backs must be able to analyze an offensive formation before
the play can begin, allowing one to predict intentions of an offense.
A defensive back must also possess the ability to change one's path
while running at whim, enabling a superior "man-to-man"
coverage. Lastly, a defensive back must be capable of voraciously and
accurately tackling offensive units. While these tackles may not
often make the highlight reel after the game, they prevent the
offensive units from breaking away and making big plays.

DEFENSIVECOORDINATOR
A defensive coordinator typically refers to a coach on a football
team in the National Football League (or at other levels of
American football) who is in charge of the defense.
This position aids the head coach a great deal in many ways by
delegating play calling to other coaches and allowing the head coach
to focus on overall play and more important issues during games and
practice sessions. A defensive coordinator in the NFL typically has a
number of assistant coaches working under him; usually a defensive
line coach, a linebackers coach, and a
secondary coach. At lower levels the defensive coordinator may also
coach one or more of these positions, or one assistant coach may be
in charge of more than one position. The defensive coordinator
oversees all of these coaches and all the defensive players. He is
usually responsible for all defensive playcalling during the game; he
calls certain plays depending on what the game situation is and what
he expects the opposing offense to do, among
other factors.

DEFENSIVEEND:
(DE) a defensive position in the sport of American football.

This position has designated the
players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations
have substantially changed how the position is played over the years.

Early formations, with six and
seven man lines, used the end as a containment player, whose job was
first to prevent an "end run" around his position, then
secondarily to force plays inside.

When most teams adopted a five man
line, two different styles of end play developed: "crashing"
ends, who rushed into the backfield to disrupt plays, and
"stand-up" or "waiting" ends, who played the more
traditional containment style. Some coaches would use both techniques
depending on game situations.

Traditionally, D-ends are in a 3
point stance, with there other hand cocked back ready to punch the
offensive lineman. Some ends are bigger. They close down there gap so
the running back has no hole to run
through. Other ends are quicker. They are used to rush the quarterback.
They can often times, time the snap of the ball to get a jump on the
rush. Most of the time it is the job of the defensive end to keep
outside contain, which means that no one should get to their outside;
they must keep everything to the inside. The defensive ends are
usually fast for players of their size, often the fastest and
smallest players on the defensive line. They must be able to shed
blockers to get to the ball. Defensive ends are also often used to
cover the outside area of the line of scrimmage,
to tackle ball carriers running to
the far right or left side, and to defend against screen
passes. Defensive ends are usually the only players on the line
who are ever used to cover offensive players running receiving
routes, albeit ones that are very close to the line of scrimmage.

These guys are the heroes of the
defensive line, because they play the part of guided missile. As soon
as the ball is snapped to the quarterback, these two guys are
supposed to jump his creaking bones by any means possible before he
gets rid of it.

YOU KNOW THEYRE DOING THEIR
JOB WHEN: You see
the quarterback in the backfield running around like a rabbit being
chased by coyotes. Or flat on his back, like a rabbit caught by em.

YOU KNOW THEY ARENT WHEN:
The quarterback is standing around in the backfield, polishing his
nails, waiting for one of his receivers
to find some spare time to catch the ball.

DEFENSIVE FORMATION The
basic goal of every defense is to stop
opposing offenses from advancing down the
field, but there are many different philosophies on the best way to
accomplish that goal, including which formation is the best.

A defensive formation can be
defined as a predetermined allignment of defensive players on the
field. Theses are some of the more common defensive formations used
in the game of football today.

In order for coaches and
players of American football to exchange information in a rapid
manner during practices and games, a more or less standard
terminology for defensive schemes has been developed.

DEFENSIVEHOLDING:
Use of the hands to hold or push an offensive receiver
or back on a passing play beyond the first five
yards past the line of scrimmage.

Inside the five yard chuck zone,
the defense may jam the receiver, but after
that a penalty is called. Defensive holding results in a five-yard
penalty on the offending team and an automatic
first down.

Also Known As: Illegal Use of Hands

DEFENSIVE LINE: The
defensive players who line up on the line of scrimmage opposite the
offensive linemen. A team's first line of defense.

The defensive line is usually made
up of the biggest defensive players, including defensive ends and
tackles. Unless your The Indianpolis Colts with Dwight
Freeney and Robert Mathis!

DEFENSIVEPASS
INTERFERENCE - a defensive player physically hinders an
offensive player from catching a catchable forward pass that has not
been touched by any other player. Referee signal: same as offensive
pass interference - two arms in front of the body with palms out and
fingers up, moved in a pushing motion out.

NFL: An automatic first down and
the ball is moved forward to the location of the interference -- a
devastating penalty if the play was a long pass. If the interference
takes place in the end zone, the ball is placed on the one-yard line.

DEFENSIVE SECONDARY the
defensive secondary (or secondary), is the name for the
collection of Defensive Backs.

The main job of the secondary is to
be prepared to handle passing plays.

DEFENSIVE STRATEGY

The general goal of defensive
strategy is to prevent the opposing team's offense from scoring.
While doing so, the defensive players may also attempt to gain
control of the football and score points themselves. There are many
different defensive strategies.

Defensive formations

Players on the defensive side of
the ball are generally split between down linemen (tackles, defensive
ends and nose guards), linebackers, and defensive backs (safeties and
cornerbacks). To describe the basic defensive alignment of linemen,
linebackers and backs, the number of down linemen is usually followed
by the number of linebackers. By far the most common alignments are
four down linemen and three linebackers (4-3),
but alignments with three down linemen and four linebackers (3-4)
are currently used by a number of teams. The number of defensive
backs is usually not mentioned (as it is, for example, in describing
soccer alignments).

However, on plays where the defense
expects the offense to pass, emphasis is often placed on the number
of defensive backs. When one of the "front seven" (down
linemen and linebackers) is removed in favour of a defensive back,
the five defensive backs are described as a "nickel"
package. When a sixth defensive back is inserted, it is known as a
"dime" package.

Unusual defensive alignments are
rare, but often successful. In Super
Bowl XXV, the New York Giants played with only two down linemen,
with four linebackers and five defensive backs. The strategy was very
successful in preventing the Buffalo Bills from completing long
passes, but it allowed over 190 yards in rushing. Nevertheless, the
Giants won. Another example is the New England Patriots using no down
linemen and seven linebackers for two plays against the Miami
Dolphins during a Monday Night game in 2004.

Basic pass coverage

Even in obvious running situations,
the defense must be able to account for the eligible receivers on
offense. There are two general schemes for defending against the pass:

To create a shorthand, most
defensive schemes use the term "cover" (for pass coverage)
and a number to describe a combination of schemes. As in American
Football there are only five eligible pass receivers on a given play
(technically the quarterback is also an eligible receiver, but passes
to the quarterback, though known, are rare) while there are at least
seven pass defenders in 3-4 alignment in man-to-man defense, some of
the pass coverage personnel may either blitz (cross the line of
scrimmage with the down linemen in an attempt to sack the
quarterback), provide double coverage on a receiver, or help other
defensive players with the pass coverage. In zone coverage, all
defensive linebackers and backs have a pass coverage assignment.

Effective defense depends on
co-operation from defensive players and an understanding of what
coverage they are in. For example, in Cover Two, the cornerbacks are
afforded with the knowledge that if they decide to jump a route (and
thereby intercept or deflect a pass) they will have safety help
farther upfield should they be tricked by a fake. In Cover One, the
safety must be aware that one of the cornerbacks could have
difficulty covering a wide receiver, and must be available to move
over to help the cornerback before the quarterback can throw.
Typically Cover One is only used if there are more than two wide
receivers or other passing threats.

Moreover, mixing up defensive
alignments and not being predictable are important since if an
offense recognizes an alignment or coverage scheme, or a tendency to
use such a scheme, they can often take advantage of it. For example,
if the defense is blitzing, and the quarterback forsees it (for
example, one of the blitzing players moves towards the line of
scrimmage before the snap) the quarterback knows that it is
man-to-man coverage and will look for his fastest receiver to get
open, or throw to the spot that is vacated by the blitzing player.

Special Cases

In the modern game, with players
getting faster and stronger, defensive coordinators often look to a
player's special skills in order to surprise the offense. For
example, in some defensive schemes, defensive down linemen are given
pass coverage responsibility. Since Lawrence Taylor now rush three
down linemen and a single linebacker (often a different one on every
play), a strategy that was almost unknown before he started to play.
Moreover, even defensive backs are being given more responsibility on
running plays. For example, on plays where a running back runs wide,
it is the responsibility of the cornerback to ensure that the running
back does not get directly to the sideline, and that the back is
forced to run in front of the cornerback where there is more likely
to be help from linebackers.

Modern offenses have adapted to
these strategies, and often require different skills from players,
particularly running backs who, in addition to running with the ball,
are expected to run deep pass routes against linebacker coverage, and
to be available to block blitzing players on pass plays

"Special team" is the
term used to describe the specialized group of players who take the
field during kickoffs, free kicks, punts, and field goal attempts.
Most football teams' special teams include one or more kickers, a
long snapper (who specializes in accurate snaps over long distances),
kick returners who catch and carry the ball after it is kicked by
the opposing team, and blockers who defend during kicks and returns.

Some players may take the field as
members of the offense or defense as well as the special teams; one
notable example is Steve Smith, wide receiver for the NFL's Carolina
Panthers, who also played as a kick returner during the 2005 NFL
season, and was drafted primarily as a special teams player.

Although these are risky, there are
a variety of strategic plays which can be attempted during kickoffs,
punts, and field goals which can be used to surprise the opposition
and (hopefully) score points.

Kickoff strategy

A kickoff occurs at the beginning
of each half and each overtime period, as well as after a successful
field goal or touchdown. A coin toss determines which team kicks the
ball away and which team receives the ball. After a field goal or a
touchdown, the team which scored the points kicks the ball to the
opposing team, which in most cases catches the ball and may attempt
to "return" it up the field.

Strategically, the coach of the
kicking team may choose to have his players kick the ball in one of
several ways:

Field goals are often viewed as a way for teams to
turn a disappointing drive into a small victory. However, many
football games are decided by field goals in the final minutes or
seconds of play, making the ability to kick an accurate field goal
vital for any football team.

The strategy for a field goal is fairly
straightforward. The team on offense forms a protective semicircle
behind the line of scrimmage on either side of the center, who snaps
the ball to the holder. The holder positions the ball so that the
kicker - moving from a short distance away - can quickly get into
position and accurately kick the ball through the goalposts. The
remaining players block the opposing team, whose members will be
trying to break through the protective circle in order to block the
kick or bat it aside for a chance to intercept the ball. If a team
misses the field goal, the opposing team takes possession of the ball
without a kickoff.

Distance, the amounts of wind and noise within the
stadium, and the amount of experience the kicker has are all
determining factors in the success or failure of a field goal
attempt. The majority of successful field goal attempts are kicked
within 50 yards of the goalpost. However, some kickers can - and
often do - make good kicks from farther away. The current NFL record
for the longest successful field goal was set in 1970 by Tom Dempsey
of the New Orleans Saints, who kicked from 63 yards out. It should be
noted that Dempsey had a specially shaped prosthetic foot that
enabled him to make such long kicks, and that such prosthetics have
since been banned. Jason Elam of the Denver Broncos tied this record
in 1998.

Modern kickers use a soccer style kick, which involves
taking a diagonal approach to the ball and kicking with the inside of
the foot. Many kickers in the 1950s and earlier kicked the ball by
lining up directly behind it and approaching straight ahead. This is
still seen today in a limited capacity in high school and college football.

In some situations, a coach may choose to have his
team fake a field goal attempt. The players line up as normal, but
instead of holding the ball for a kick, the player receiving the snap
may run with the ball, hand it off to another player, or attempt to
throw it downfield. This play is quite risky and therefore not used often.

It is possible for the defensive team to return a
missed field goal, although this is attempted very rarely. If a field
goal attempt is short of the goal posts and the ball is caught by a
defensive player before it hits the ground, the player may return the
ball just as on a punt. Teams usually try a return only when a very
long field goal is attempted at the end of the first half, since in
all other cases it is more advantageous for the defense to just let
the ball fall short. Recently, returns of this type have happened in
2002 (Chris McAlister of the Baltimore Ravens, for 107 yards versus
the Denver Broncos), 2005 (Nathan Vasher of the Chicago Bears, for
108 yards versus the San Francisco 49ers; this currently holds the
record for longest play in NFL history), and 2006 (Devin Hester, also
of the Bears, tied the previous record of 108 with a return against
the New York Giants).

Punting strategy

Most teams punt on fourth down when the chances of
gaining enough yards for a first down are slim and when the ball is
too far from the goalpost to allow a field goal try. Generally, a
member of the opposing team moves into position to catch the ball. He
may try to gain yards by running the ball downfield, or he may signal
a fair catch by waving one arm above his head, thus agreeing that he
will not attempt to return the ball downfield. A player who has
signalled a fair catch may not be tackled after catching the ball.

In some cases, a coach may attempt trickery by
switching between his offense and special teams players between
plays. A coach may call a time-out, send the kicking team onto the
field, and then when the play clock resumes quickly run his offense
back on and his kicking team off, hopefully disorienting the
defending team enough to advance on the ensuing play or cause a
penalty if the defending team cannot switch personnel quickly enough.
However, this trickery can also result in penalties against the
offense if the play takes too long (delay of game) or if too many
players remain on the field when the ball is snapped.

Occasionally a coach will line his team up in a
shotgun formation and have the quarterback "quick kick" or
"pooch punt" -- using the element of surprise to cause the
defense not to have a receiver ready.

In much the same way as a fake field goal (described
above), a fake punt is an effort to trick the opposition and either
score or gain enough yards for a first down. Fake punts are risky for
the same reasons as fake field goals and are thus rarely attempted.

Punts out-of-bounds

Skilled punters may try to punt a ball past the return
team so that the ball touches the playing field in bounds, then rolls
out of bounds close to the opposing team's end zone. The drawback to
such a punt is that the ball may roll into the end zone (touchback),
giving the receiving team decent field position. Or, if the kick is
angled too sharply, it will go out of bounds too early and result in
an unusually short punt. The best punters are highly regarded for
their ability to put the ball out of bounds within five yards of the
goal line. These punts are also known as "coffin corner
punts" due to their ability to act as a "coffin nail"
to an opposing offense.

Receiving kicks

The biggest choice facing a kick returner is whether
or not to attempt to run the ball back. Generally, a returner who
catches a kickoff or punt in the "red zone" between the
receiving team's own end zone and 20 yard line will attempt some sort
of return, if only to gain a few yards. If the receiving team's
players can get into position quickly, they may be able to allow the
returner to gain further yardage or break away from the pack entirely
and score a touchdown.

DEFENSIVETACKLE: (DT)
(sometimes called a defensive guard), A defensive player - are
linemen who line up inside the defensive ends.

The duties of a defensive tackle
include stopping the running back on
running plays, getting pressure up the middle on passing plays, and
occupying blockers so the linebackers can
roam free.

Defensive Tackles, or DT's, are
typically the largest and strongest of the defensive players. The
defensive tackle typically lines up opposite one of the offensive
guards. Depending on a team's individual defensive scheme, a
defensive tackle may be called upon to fill several different roles.
These roles may include merely holding the point of attack by
refusing to be moved, or penetrating a certain gap between offensive
linemen to break up a play in the opponent's backfield. If a
defensive tackle reads a pass play, his primary responsibilty is to
pursue the quarterback. Other responsibilities of
the defensive tackle may be to pursue the screen
pass or drop into coverage in a zone blitz scheme.

In the 3-4 defensive scheme the
sole defensive tackle is referred to as the nose guard.
The primary responsibility of the defensive tackle in this scheme is
to absorb multiple blockers so that other players in the defensive
front can attack ballcarriers and rush the quarterback.

Jersey
Numbers: 60 - 79

Why they have the term as a
"TACKLE" is beyond me,They do all sorts of things, but
generally speaking, tackling isnt usually one of em. Given any kind
of choice, theyd love to clobber somebody, but in truth, mostly they
just end up plugging up the inside running lanes while they grapple
with the big guys on the other side.

If you had to define their job, it
would be to make sure those zippy ball carriers
dont manage to run down the center of the field. So, in theory, they
cover that A gap between the opposing center
and the guard outside of them on the line, and something called the B
gap, which exists between the opposing guard and the tackle
outside of them on the line, making sure nobody carrying the ball
runs through there.

Ok so theyre trying to stop a guy
with the ball: why dont they tackle em? Well, they would if they
could get at em. But ordinarily the guy with the ball, seeing the
defensive tackle there, slobbering in anticipation, will seek an
alternate route, and the opposing guard and tackle will do their best
to discourage people like the defensive tackles from going after him.

Of course, sometimes they get lucky
and the guy with the ball decides to take his chances and goes for
one of the gaps. At that point, all the tackle has to do is bully his
way past the opposing guard and tackle who are there pretty much
specifically to impede him, and then jump on top of the guy with the
ball before hes too far out of reach.

YOU KNOW THEYRE DOING THEIR
JOB WHEN: Same as
the nose
tackle: nobody takes the ball on the hoof and prances
down the middle of the field without tasting turf.

YOU KNOW THEYRE NOT WHEN: The
other team treats the A and B gaps
like exits on the Jersey Turnpike.

DELAY OF GAME:
A penalty called on a team for either letting the play
clock expire before snapping the ball,
having too many players on the field, or calling a time out after
having already used all they were allotted by rule.

The 40-second play
clock starts running
immediately when the previous play ends. If there is a timeout or
other stoppage of play, a 25-second play clock starts from when the
ball is spotted and declared ready for play.

Referee
signal: Two forearms in front of chest parallel to the body with open
fists, one on top of the other.

This penalty can be called on
either offense or defense,
but the foul is most commonly committed by the offense. The penalty
occurs on offense when they allow the play clock to run down to zero
without snapping the ball. The penalty can be called on the defense
if the referees feel that the defense did not allow the offense to
get the play off in time for any reason. A similar foul is delay on kickoff.

He is most widely
known for his NFL record 63 yard field goal, kicked in the final 5
seconds to give the New Orleans Saints a 19-17 win over the Detroit
Lions on 8
November 1970.
This record still stands (as of the start of the 2006 season),
although it was equalled by Jason Elam of the Denver Broncos on October
25th 1998.

Dempsey was born with
no right hand, and a right club foot, with no toes on his right foot
(which was his kicking foot). He wore a modified shoe with a
flattened and enlarged toe area, giving somewhat the appearance of a
hammer. He used a straight approach to kick the ball as opposed to
the "soccer style" used by nearly all place kickers today.
Dempsey's accomplishment led to the NFL passing a rule requiring that
all footgear be "normal" (their term) regardless of the
kicker's personal situation.

DENVER
BRONCOS -
AFC West

The Denver Broncos
American football club is a National Football League team based in Denver,
Colorado.
The Broncos began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American
Football League and joined the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL Merger.

The Denver Broncos
were a small-market team that met with little success in their early
years but have since become one of the elite franchises of the league
after having advanced to the Super
Bowl six
times. In their first four appearances, they suffered successively
lopsided defeats, achieving near-legendary status as frustrated
losers before winning back-to-back Super Bowl championships in 1998
and 1999 under quarterback
John Elway, running
back
Terrell Davis and coach Mike Shanahan.

For most of their
history they played in Mile High Stadium, which became one of the
shrines of professional football for its unbroken string of sell-outs
and its famous home-field advantage percentage for the Broncos,
especially during the post-season. Mile High Stadium was one of the
NFL's loudest stadiums, with steel flooring instead of concrete,
which may have given the Broncos an advantage over opponents. Since
2001, they have played at INVESCO Field at Mile High, built next to
the former site of Mile High Stadium.

City:
Denver,
Colorado

Head Coach:
Mike Shanahan

Uniform colors:
"Broncos Navy Blue", Orange,
and White

Helmet design:
Navy Blue background with a white horse-head profile.

Home fields

Mile High Stadium (1960-2000)INVESCO
Field at Mile High (2001-present)

DEPTH CHART An NFL team roster with
players classified as 1st, 2nd, or 3rd string.

DETROIT
LIONS - NFCNorth

The Detroit Lions
American football club is a National Football League team based in Detroit,
Michigan.
Originally called the Portsmouth Spartans, the team began play in
1930 as one of the NFL's small town teams in Portsmouth,
Ohio.
However, they were forced to move to Detroit
in 1934 due to the Great Depression.

Detroit,
Michigan
had four early teams in the National Football League before the
Detroit Lions. The Heralds played in 1920. The Tigers in 1921. The
Panthers from 1925-1926 and the Wolverines in 1928.

Teams normally use
four defensive backs. When a fifth defensive back comes in the game,
he is referred to as the nickel
back.
When the sixth defensive back comes in, he is refered to as the dime back.

A dimeback is a cornerback
who serves as the sixth defensive back on defense.
The third cornerback on defence is known as a nickelback. The
dimeback position is essentially relegated to backup cornerbacks who
do not play starting cornerback positions. Dimebacks are usually fast
players because they must be able to keep up on passing plays with 3+ wide
receivers.

Usually, dimebacks
are brought onto the feild before plays that have a good possibility
of becoming pass plays. Usually, a linebacker
is substituted for a cornerback in order to gain better pass defence.

DIME
COVERAGE: A
pass coverage scheme that involves the use of six defensive
backs.

If you take a look at the
illustration on the right, you will see a diagram outlining the dime
defense. The Os in the diagram represent offensive players while the
Xs represent the placement of the defensive players.

DION SANDERS RULE
the Deion Sanders rule Player salary rule which correlates a
contract's signing bonus with its yearly salary. Enacted after
Deion Sanders signed

DIRECT SNAP a
play in which the ball is passed directly to the presumed ball
carrier
by the center.
Contrast with an indirect snap play in which the ball is first
handed to the quarterback,
who will then pass or hand it to the eventual ball carrier. Also
used to refer to formations that use a direct snap, such as the
single wing.

Mike Fender / The Star

Colts QB
Peyton Manning (18) looks to receiver
Brandon Stokley as a diversion during a direct snap to Edgerrin James
in the fourth quarter. The trick play gained five yards and help set
up the Colts only touchdown on the day giving the Indianapolis
Colts a 10-3 victory Sunday
September 18, 2005
at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis,
Indiana.

DIVISION: in
the NFL, sub-groups within conferences, such as the Eastern,
Northern, Southern and Western Divisions; also, a grouping of teams
in college football, where Division I contains the most competitive
teams and Division III the least.

Double coverage is a state of
defensive playcalling wherein two defensive players are assigned to
"cover" one offensive player. This situation is often seen
with standout wide receivers and running
backs.

Note:
It's actually extremely rare to nonexistent to have 2 DBs man-cover
a single receiver. Commentators who use the term
"double-coverage" almost always mean a CB covering a WR man-to-man,
with a safety playing over the top (typically trying to stay in
front of the WR's route) for deep ball assistance.

DOUBLE FOUL:
A situation in which each team commits a foul during the same play.

A double foul usually results
in offsetting penalties that negate the result of the play.

DOUBLEOPTION PLAY
The double option is essentially the same play minus the first running
back. In addition, various forms of the double option and triple
option may allow the quarterback the choice of
passing the ball. In this case, the pitch read is faked, with the
quarterback motioning as if to pitch, before the quarterback drops
into the pocket in preparation to pass.

DOUBLEREVERSE
a play in which the ball reverses direction twice behind the line
of scrimmage. This is usually accomplished by means of two or
three hand-offs, each hand-off going in an opposite direction as the
previous one. Such a play is extremely infrequent in football.

Some people confuse the double
reverse with a reverse, which is a play with two hand-offs instead of three.

DOWN
one of a series of plays in which the offensive team must advance at
least 10 yards or lose possession. First down is the first of the
plays; fourth is the last down in American, and third in Canadian,
football. A first down occurs after a change of possession of the
ball, after advancing the ball 10 yards following a previous first
down or after certain penalties.

a down refers to a period in which a play transpires.

Down is also an adjective to describe the condition of the player
with possession of the ball after he has been tackled or is otherwise
unable to advance the ball further on account of the play having
ended (e.g., "He is down at the 34 yard line").

It may also refer to the ball after it is made dead in one manner or
another. The line of scrimmage for the
next play will be determined by the position of the ball when it is downed.

A down begins with a snap or kickoff or free kick, and ends when the
ball or the player in possession of it is declared down by an
official, a team scores, or the ball or player in possession of it
leaves the field of play.

Each possession begins with first down. The first down line is marked
10 yards downfield from the start of this possession. If the
offensive team moves the ball past the first down line, they make a
new first down. If they fail to do this after a specified number of
downs (four in American play and three in Canadian play), the team is
said to turn the ball over on downs, and possession of the ball
reverts to the opposing team at the spot where the ball was downed at
the end of the last down.

When the offensive team has not yet made a first down before reaching
the final down, the team faces a last down situation (third down
situation in Canadian play and fourth down situation in American
play), where the team is forced to decide whether to either scrimmage
the ball in an attempt to pick up the first down, or alternatively to
kick the ball (either by punting or making a field goal attempt).
Kicking the ball is typically the safer solution, while scrimmaging
may lead to a turnover on downs, potentially giving the ball over to
the other team with good field position.

Downing the player with possession of the ball is one way to end a
play (other ways include the player with the ball going out of
bounds, an incomplete pass, or a score). Usually a player is made
down when he is tackled by the defense. If the
offensive player is touching the ground with some part of his body
other than his hands or feet, then he is down if any defensive player
touches him

Terminology

1st and 10: First down with 10 yards to go for a new first
down. The usual starting point for a possession.

2nd and 5: Second down with 5 yards to go. Similarly,
2nd and 10, 3rd and 2, etc.

3rd and long: In American football, third down with an
unspecified but significant distance to go. Often used as a metaphor
for a desperate situation that demands risky actions be taken. The
corresponding Canadian football term is 2nd and long.

3rd and 1: Third down with one yard to go. This is often
used in tense situations in Canadian football where the offense
is tempted to scrimmage the ball rather than kick for a chance to get
another first down. A similar term used in American football is 4th
and inches.

1st and goal: First down, where the distance to the first down
line is greater than the distance to the goal line, for example, 1st
and goal on the 8 yard line. A team cannot make another first down
(barring a defensive penalty) without actually scoring. Similarly,
"2nd and goal", etc.

down by contact: Describes when a player with possession of
the ball is made to touch the ground (other than hands or feet) by a
defensive player; for example, if the ball-carrier slips and falls,
he can get up and continue, but if he was pushed by a defensive
player, he is said to be down by contact and the play is dead. This
term is only applicable to professional football; in college and
high-school football, the play ends when the player with possession
goes down for any reason.

DOWN AND IN:
A maneuver where the receiver runs straight
downfield, then suddenly cuts toward the middle of the field.

DOWN AND OUT:
A pass route In which the receiver runs
straight downfield, then cuts sharply toward the sideline.

DOWN BOX
A seven-foot metal rod, on the end of which are four cards (numbered
1 to 4), used to keep track of the number of the down being played.

also known as chainsor Down Indicator (yet, not to be confused with an
Officials Down Indicator)

DOWN INDICATOR
A specially designed wristband that is used to remind officials of
the current down. It has an elastic loop attached
to it that is wrapped around the fingers. Usually, officials put the
loop around their index finger when it is first down, the middle
finger when it is second down, and so on.

Some officials, generally the Umpire position, may also use an
indicator to keep track of where the ball was placed between the hash
marks before the play (i.e. the right hash marks, the left ones, or
at the midpoint between the two). This is important when they re-spot
the ball after an incomplete pass.

Some officials use two thick rubber bands tied together as a down
indicator. One rubber band is used as the wristband and the other is
looped over the fingers.

DOWNING THE BALL If, for whatever
reason, the receiving team does not catch the ball, the kicking team
may move into position and try to down it as close as possible to the
opposing team's end zone. This is achieved by surrounding the ball
and allowing it to roll or bounce, without touching it, as close as
possible to the end zone. If the ball appears to be rolling or
bouncing into the end zone, a player may run in front of the goal
line and attempt to bat it down or catch it. If a member of the
kicking team touches or catches the ball before a member of the
receiving team does so, the ball is blown dead by the official when
he has judged that the returner is not going to pick up the ball and
return it, or the kicking team picks the ball up and hands it to the
official. Once the whistle is blown the play is over and the
receiving team takes possession at the spot the ball was spotted by
the official.

Thus it is strategically important for kicking teams
to get as close to the ball as possible after a punt, so that they
may quickly tackle a returner, down the ball as close to the opposing
team's end zone as possible, and (if possible) recover the ball after
a fumble and regain possession of the ball.

DOWNED PLAYER
A player carrying the ball is downed when any of the following occurs:

The ballcarrier is tackled;
that is, any part of his body other than the hands, forearms, or feet
touches the ground after he is touched by an opponent. (In college
a player is considered down whether or not an opponent causes him to fall.)
Unlike the use of the word tackle in other sports, if the opposing
player fails to down the ballcarrier, it is called an attempted tackle.

The ballcarrier goes out of
bounds; that is, any part of his body touches the ground on or past a
sideline or an endline.

The ballcarrier's forward
progress is stopped; that is, in trying to avoid a tackle, his motion
toward his opponent's goal is stopped with little chance to be
resumed. The exact moment at which the player's forward progress
stops is often unclear and is left to the judgement of the officials.

The ballcarrier
intentionally downs the ball; that is, any part of his body other
than the hands, forearms, or feet touches the ground with obvious
intent to down the ball. (In college such a player is considered
down regardless of intent.)

DRAFT:
The meeting of owners and commissioner before
the NFL season where owners select the players for their team.The selection of new
players into the pro ranks. Teams doing poorly are allowed to choose
before those doing well, from among the various top college players.

DRAFT CHOICE:
A player chosen by a professional sports team from a pool of college
players in an annual draft.

DRAG ROUTE
A Drag route is a pattern run by a receiver in American Football,
where the receiver runs only a couple yards in front of, and parallel
to, the line of scrimmage towards the center of the field from his
initial position. This type of route is relatively safe and is thrown
to an agile receiver who can make a play after the catch.
Alternatively, a Drag route may be used as a second option if the
principal receiver on a play is covered.

The use of two crossing drag routes
can also be used to try to create an open receiver by using the other
receiver to block the path of a defensive back in a man coverage scheme.

DRAWDRAW PLAY:(an
offensive play)
A fake pass which ends with one of the backs carrying the ball after
the defensive linemen are "drawn" in on the pass rush

The offensive linemen fake like
they are going to pass-block, the quarterback drops
back like he is going to throw a pass, but instead turns and hands
the ball to a running
back.

The draw is a great play to call
when the defense is applying a heavy pass rush.

A draw is a type of play that
"tricks" the defense into thinking a pass is being thrown,
when in fact a running play has been called. The draw play can be
considered the opposite of the play action pass. The idea behind a
draw play is to attack aggressive, pass-rushing defenses by
"drawing" them upfield, therefore leaving more room to run
the ball. Draw plays are usually run out of the shotgun
formation, but can also be run when the quarterback is under
center. These types of draw plays are sometimes referred to as
delayed handoffs.

Offensive movement during a draw play

* The
quarterback drops back to pass, just long enough to get the pass rush
to come upfield.

* The offensive
linemen pass block, but also try to push the defenders to the
outside, creating a crease in the middle.

* The running
back fakes as if he's staying in to help pass protect, then after
about two seconds, takes the hand-off from the quarterback and heads
upfield through the crease created by the linemen.

DUAL THREAT
QUARTERBACK a
quarterback
who is skilled at both passing and rushing the ball. These
quarterbacks may be difficult to defend against since the defensive
team cannot focus on one threat to the exclusion of the other.

Dual threat quarterbacks

In recent years in the NFL, partially in response to more mobile
defensive linemen and increased use of the "blitz" defense,
there has been a resurgence in the importance of the "running
quarterback", whose mobility, speed,and power allows him the
opportunity to gain yardage by running around the outside of the
defensive line, even after initially dropping back to pass. For
example, in the 2004-2005 season Michael Vick rushed for 902
yards and 3 touchdowns, while only passing for 2313 yards, 14
touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Although the emphasis of a
quarterback's performance is still on his passing abilities, such
running ability provides an additional threat that allows greater
flexibility in the team's passing game.

Some of the first famous NFL quarterbacks ever to be known as threats
for both their passing and running ability were Fran Tarkenton
and Roger Staubach, both of whom played in the NFL during the
1960s and 1970s. Quarterbacks of this ilk are sometimes known as
"dual threat" quarterbacks, since they can gain yardage by
either throwing or running the ball.

DULUTH ESKIMOS Duluth,
Minnesota fielded a team called the Kelleys (officially the Kelley
Duluths after the Kelley-Duluth Hardware Store) from 1923-1925 and
the Eskimos (officially Ernie Nevers' Eskimos after their star
player) from 1926-1927 in the National Football League. The Eskimos
were then sold to the Orange Tornadoes.

DUNGY, TONY
Anthony Kevin Dungy (born October
6, 1955) is an
American former professional football player and current head coach
of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts.

DYNASTY LEAGUE(fantasy
football term) A league in which you keep your entire
roster from year to year. The next season a draft is held to improve
your team. Usually the draft order is based on the previous year's
finish. Dynasty leagues are a long term commitment.

EIGHT IN THE BOX
The area occupied by defensive linemen and linebackers is often
referred to as "the box." The box is usually about 3-5
yards in depth and spans the offensive line in width. Normally seven
players occupy this area but frequently another player is brought
into the box for run support against smashmouth-oriented offensive
teams or short yardage situations. The most common occurrence of
eight in the box in the NFL involves the strong safety walking down
from his position 10-15 yards off the line of scrimmage before the
ball is snapped. From this tightened position he can offer the
aforementioned run support as well as jam WRs and TEs, blitz the QB,
or provide flat coverage. Due to the superior athleticism of NFL
players, it is not uncommon for the box safety to even provide deep
coverage after the snap, giving the QB a pre-snap Cover 1 read but
effectively transitioning into Cover 2 or another shell post snap.

ELIGIBLE:
An offensive player who is able (by the rules) to catch a forward
pass; eligible to receive the pass. SeeEligible
Receiver

Not all players on offense
are entitled to receive a forward pass. Only an eligible pass
receiver may legally catch a forward pass, or be more than five
yards over the line of scrimmage on a forward passing play. If the
pass is received by a non-eligible receiver, the penalty for ineligible
receiver is assessed (the play is treated as an incomplete pass,
unless the ball is downed behind the line of scrimmage - in either
case a down is lost). If a non-eligible receiver is more than
five yards downfield on a completed forward pass, the penalty
assessed is "ineligible receiver downfield" (a loss of
yardage, but not loss of down).

Every player on the defensive
team is considered eligible. The offensive team must have at
least seven players lined up on the line of scrimmage. Of the players
on the line of scrimmage, only the two players on the ends of the
line of scrimmage are eligible receivers. The four remaining players
in the backfield, excluding the quarterback, where
a quarterback who takes the snap directly from the center is never
eligible. However, a quarterback who receives a longer snap from the
center, such as in a shotgun formation, is
eligible even in the NFL.

With the assignment
of numbers to positions, a player who is not wearing a number
that corresponds to an eligible receiver is not eligible even if he
lines up in an eligible position. However, in the American game, a
person who reports to the referee that he will be eligible on the
play is allowed to line up and act as an eligible receiver. An
example of this was a 1985 NFL game in which William Perry, wearing
number 72 and normally a defensive lineman, was made an eligible
receiver on an offensive play, and successfully caught a touchdown
pass attempt.

If, for example, eight men line up
on the line of scrimmage, the team loses an eligible receiver. This
can often happen when a flanker or slot receiver, who is supposed to
line up behind the line of scrimmage, instead lines up on the line of
scrimmage between the offensive line and a split end. In most cases
where a pass is caught by an ineligible receiver, it is usually
because the quarterback was under pressure and threw it to an
offensive lineman out of desperation.

Before the snap of the ball,
eligible receivers may only move parallel to the line of scrimmage,
only one eligible receiver may be in motion at any given time, and if
forward motion has occurred, the receiver must be still for a full
second before the snap. The receiver may be in motion laterally or
away from the line of scrimmage at the snap. A breach of this rule
results in a penalty for illegal procedure (five yards).

The rules on eligible receivers
only apply to forward passes, even those behind the line of
scrimmage. However, any player may legally catch a backwards or
lateral pass.

Once the play has started, players
can become ineligible and eligible depending on how the play
develops. Any eligible receiver that goes out of bounds is no longer
an eligible receiver and cannot receive a forward pass. Also, if a
pass is touched by any eligible receiver (tipped by a defensive
lineman, slips through a receiver's hands, etc) every player on
the field immediately becomes eligible.

EMMITT SMITH RULE Enacted
in 1997 - no taking
your helmet off on the field of play.

EMPTY FORMATION Sometimes
listed as a variation of the Ace Formation the
empty formation consists of five receivers
either being five wide receivers, four
wide receivers and one tight end, three wide
receivers and two tight ends, two wide receivers and three tight
ends, and so on. It can also be run with one or two wing backs like
the flexbone formation allowing a running game and the ability to run
the option. This is a passing formation used to spread the field and
gain a lot of yards, but can be used to run the ball either using
wingbacks or quarterback draws. The quarterback can
line up either under center or in the shotgun.
This formation is becoming more popular in the pros and college
football with the emergence of Mike Leach's Aerial Assault at TexasTechUniversity.

ENCROACH:
Contacting an opposing player before the snap. Encroaching is
illegal, with a five-yard penalty.

ENCROACHMENT:
If a player (besides the center)
is in the neutral zone and contact occurs prior to the snap.

(Penalty 5 yards)
- a defensive player crosses the line of scrimmage and makes contact
with a player, or has a unabated path to the quarterback,
before the snap. Unlike the offsides penalty, this penalty
immediately halts play: the referees blow the whistle, the clock
stops, and the offense does not run a play.

END:
An offensive lineman on the very end of the line
of scrimmage (there are two, one on each end of the line). The
ends block defensive linemen to open up holes for the runner, and
guard the quarterback. On professional teams, the
end on the right side is referred to as a 'tight' end, as he lines up
close to the tackle. The end on the left side is out farther to go
out for passes, and is called a wide receiver.

Jersey
Numbers: 80 - 89

ENDAROUND
a play, often confused with a reverse, where the quarterback
hands the ball off to a wide receiver .
The receiver motions/moves into the backfield as the ball is snapped
to take the handoff and runs around the opposite end from where he
lined up

END LINE:
The very end of the field, in either direction. There are two end
lines (one at each end of the field).

END ZONE:
The area between the end line and goal
line bounded by the sidelines. It is
bordered on all sides by a white line indicating its beginning and
end points. The end zone is where a player on offense
tries to enter to score a touchdown.

A team scores a touchdown by
entering their opponent's end zone while carrying the ball or
catching the ball while being within the end zone. If the ball is
carried by an offensive player, across the goal line, it is
considered a score as soon as the ball crosses the imaginary
vertical plane of the goal line, between the two sidelines.

In addition, a two-point conversion
may be scored after a touchdown by similar means.

EXCESSIVE TIME OUTS:
Calling a time out after having used the three allowed per half.

The penalty for excessive
time outs is five yards against the offending team and the clock is restarted.

EXPANSION TEAM

An Expansion Team is considered to
be a brand new team in a sports league. The term comes from the fact
that the league expands its presence into new cities.

However, when an expansion team
begins play, they are generally stocked with players who were
rejected by the other existing teams. As a result, most expansion
teams are known to be very awful during their first season, but some
are known to even held a title (championship) in their league only a
few years after their first season. Most teams are considered as an
expansion team usually in their inaugural season and sometimes in
their second season.

Depending on the league and the
situation, a team that moves to another location and/or changes its
name are generally not considered an expansion team.

EXTRA POINT(S):
After scoring a touchdown, a team can earn additional point(s)
scored by a team after it has scored a touchdown, either by a
point-after-touchdown (1 point) or a 2-point
conversion (2 points).

The extra point, point after
touchdown, or PAT is the act of lining up to kick, as in a field
goal, immediately following a touchdown. If the kick goes through the
uprights, the team gets an additional point for their touchdown,
bringing their total for that score to 7.

If more points are needed or
desired, a two-point conversion may
be attempted instead of the extra point kick.

The face mask, which is usually
made of plastic or metal bars, attaches to the front of the helmet.
There are two types of face masks, the open cage and the closed cage.

The open cage usually is preferred
by quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and defensive
backfield men because the open cagewith two or three horizontal bars
and no vertical bar above the noseenables better visibility. The
closed cage usually is the choice of linesmen because the closed
cagevertical bar running the length of the mask over the nose with
two, three, or four horizontal barshelps to keep other players'
fingers and hands out of their eyes. In the 1970s, vinyl coating was
layered onto the bars to protect against chipping and abrasions.
Soon, colors were added to the face masks as another way to
distinguish players and teams.

(2) grabbing an opponent's face
mask. Grasping the face mask - contact on an opponent's face
mask which includes grasping or twisting the mask, and including
using the mask to tackle an opponentalso See foul

There are actually
two levels of severity for face mask penalties. One results from
incidental grabbing of a face mask where it is immediately released,
and results in a five-yard penalty. A major face mask foul usually
results from a player grabbing an opponent by the face mask and using
it to pull the player down or twist his head around and results in a
15-yard penalty and an automatic
first down.

FAIR CATCH:
a member of the team receiving a punt or kick, may signal for a
"fair catch". To signal fair catch the receiver must raise
one arm fully above his head and wave it side to side, while the ball
is in flight. After making the signal, no opponent may interfere with
the fair catcher, the ball or his path to the ball and the receiver
may not attempt to advance the ball. If the receiver fails to give a
proper signal (arm not fully extended) the receiving team is
penalized five yards for an invalid fair catch signal, marked from
spot of the signal.

Also, players may not tackle the
receiver making the fair catch.

The primary reason for the
fair catch rule is to protect the receiver. A receiver's attention is
on the incoming punt and cannot focus on the defenders running
towards him. He is quite vulnerable to injury and is also at risk for
fumbling the kick if the punter intentionally makes a high short kick
to allow defenders time to hit the receiver.

The XFL removed the fair catch
rule in an effort to make the game more "extreme." The XFL
however, was not the only league to do so: Canadian football and
Arena football also do not have fair catch rules.

A free kick
may be taken on the play immediately after any fair catch of a punt.
If the receiving team elects to attempt this and time expired during
the punt, the half is extended with an untimed down. The ball must be
held on the ground by a member of the kicking team; a tee may not be
used. This is both a field goal attempt and a free kick; if the ball
is kicked between the goal posts, three points are scored for the
kicking team. This is the only case where a free kick may score
points. This method of scoring is extremely rare; it is only
advantageous when as a team catches a very short punt with no time
left. Note that a team is unlikely to be punting with only a few
seconds left in a half, and it is rarer still for punts to be caught
near field goal range.See Fair
Catch Kick

A player signaling for a fair catch
is not required to catch the ball; however, after making the signal,
he may not initiate contact with any member of the kicking team until
the ball is touched by another player. If he does he will be
penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. If the ball hits the
ground or a member of the kicking team, the fair catch signal is off
and rules for kicked balls apply. If the receiver "muffs"
the ball (touches it, but then fails to field it cleanly), then the
ball can be recovered by the kicking team.

A "personal foul" for
kick catch interference and a 15 yard penalty is called against the
kicking team if a member violates the fair catcher's right to the
ball. If the receiver attempts to advance the ball after signalling
for a fair catch he is penalized five yards for "delay of
game". A fair catch may be followed by a snap or a type of free
kick the fair catch kick at his team's choice, and an expired playing
period may be extended if the free kick is chosen. (The fair catch
kick exists only in the NFL, having been abolished in college.)

The fair catch signal can be used
as a legal form of deception in the following instance: If the
receiver has no intention of actually fielding the ball, but wishes
it to roll in the end zone for a touchback, he may signal for a fair
catch in front of where the ball will land, making the kicking team
think it will not reach the end zone. Some fans see this as an abuse
of the fair catch rule, and think that it should be amended to allow
the kicking team to recover the ball at any point after it has
touched the ground if a fair catch has been called for, which would
force an end to this practice, but so far no rules committee will
consider this argument.

The officials' signal for a
successful fair catch kick is the same as for a field goal.

FAIR CATCHINTERFERENCE:
A player may not interfere with a punt returner's opportunity to
catch the football after having signaled for a fair catch.

The penalty for fair catch
interference is 15 yards against the offending team.

FAIR CATCH KICK
The fair catch kick is a little-known, rarely enacted rule found in
professional and some amateur American football. It is one of the
three types of free kicks; the other two are the kickoff and the
safety kick. The fair catch kick is the only of the three in which
the kicking team may score a field goal. At one time a very similar
rule existed in rugby union called goal from mark.

Fair catch kicks can only occur
when a member of the receiving team signals for, and successfully
makes, a fair catch. That team then has the option of restarting play
either by snap or fair catch kick. If the team elects the fair catch
kick option, the kicking team lines up at the spot where the fair
catch was made and the opposing team lines up ten yards downfield.
The kicker then may either placekick the ball from a teammate's hold
(a kickoff tee may be used in high school) or dropkick the ball.
Three points are awarded for kicking the ball through the uprights.
If the kick does not go through the uprights, the ball is live,
similar to either of the other free kicks. Likewise, a fair catch
kick landing out of bounds but not in the end zone is awarded to the
receiving team 30 yards from where it was kicked.

In the NFL, a fair catch kick may
still be attempted if the quarter ends on the fair catch play. This
is not automatic; a team's captain or coach must exercise this option.

This play is very rarely used.
First of all, it is only allowed in the NFL, high school, and a few
other levels of football. In the NFL, a rare combination of
circumstances would make it plausible. As it will only happen after a
punt or free kick, a fair catch tends to be taken too far from the
goal for a kick to be successful (although, unlike a field goal
attempt, the resulting kick is taken from the spot of the catch, not
several yards back, and the defending team must stay 10 yards back
before the kick.) Further, it is of most use to a team when there is
not enough time to run a play from scrimmage, so is only likely to be
seen when the punt would otherwise be the last play of a half or a
game. Finally, at the end of a game it is only of use when the
receiving team is 3 points or fewer behind, or the game is tied - if
they need 4 or more points, they will try to run the ball back for a
touchdown. If a team has a three point lead on fourth down with a few
seconds left, they are more likely to run out the clock by having the
punter run around the end zone and take an intentional safety than to
risk a punt.

In the rare circumstances when a
punt is taken close to a team's own goal line with only a few seconds
left in the half, sportscasters will sometimes mention the rule.
However, punters, under those circumstances, will generally kick the
ball away from the return man, most likely to frustrate a long return
rather than to prevent a fair catch.

Because a fair catch kick is rarely
used, many players, coaches and fans don't know that the rule even exists.

The last successful fair catch kick
in the NFL was by Mac Percival in 1968, scoring the game-winning
field goal for the Chicago Bears against the Green Bay Packers. As of
2006, 8 more have been attempted, none successful.

FAKE PUNT: On
very rare occasions, a punting team will elect to attempt a
"fake punt" that is line up in punt formation and begin the
process as normal, but instead do one of the following:

* The punter may choose to run with
the ball.

* The ball may be snapped to
another running
back, who then runs
with the ball.

* The punter (or another back, who
is standing nearby) may decide to pass to a pre-designated receiver.

Usually, teams will attempt
a fake punt only in the rarest of situations: to keep a drive alive
(particularly if a team is behind by one or more touchdowns and the
team needs momentum), to expose a weakness in an opposing team's defense,
or to catch the opponent's special teams unit off-guard and get an
easy touchdown.

The success rate of "fake
punts" is low, which may explain why this play is seldom seen.

FALSE START:(Penalty
against the offense) An infraction
in which an offensive player moves before the ball is snapped.
Movement by an offensive player after they have taken a set postion.

A false start results in a
five-yard penalty against the offending team.

For offensive linemen, this
movement might be as minute as a couple of centimeters.

At the end of the 2005-2006 NFL
season, owners complained regarding false start penalties on players
whose flinches have little effect upon the start of the play, such as
wide receivers. In response, the NFL competition committee has said
that they plan to inflict less false start penalties on players who
line up behind the line of scrimmage

FANTASY FOOTBALL: A
game played by football fans in which participants draft their own
team and compete with teams built by others.

Scoring systems vary among fantasy
football leagues, but most are based on points accumulated by players
based on their real-life performance in a game on the same day.

A game which the players (owners)
earn fantasy points for the statistical performances of the NFL
players on their fantasy team. In most leagues, NFL players are
assigned to teams via a draft. Usually, each player can only be on
one team at a time and there are limits to the total number of
players per team. The object of the game is to outscore your fantasy
opponent (other owners) on a weekly basis, so that at the end of the
fantasy season (depending on the league) you have the most points or
the most wins (in a head to head league).

FIELD GOAL:
(3 points)When
a place-kick goes through the goalpost (over the crossbar and
between the upright bars), three points are earned as a field goal.

Generally, teams will attempt field
goals on fourth down when they feel they
are within reasonable distance of the goalpost in the opponent's end zone.

A field goal is
scored when the ball is kicked between the goal posts behind the
opponent's end zone. The ball must first be snapped to a placeholder,
who holds the ball upright on the ground with his fingertip so that
it may be kicked. Three points are scored if the ball crosses the
plane of the goal between the two upright posts and above the
crossbar. If a field goal is missed, the ball is returned to the spot
of the kick (in college, to the original line of scrimmage),
and possession is given to the other team. If the ball does not go
out of bounds, the other team may catch the kicked ball and attempt
to advance it, but this is usually not advantageous. One official is
positioned under each goalpost; if either one rules the field goal no
good, then the field goal is unsuccessful. A successful field goal is
signaled by an official extending both arms vertically above the
head. A team that successfully kicks a field goal kicks off to the
opposing team on the next play.

FIELDJUDGE:
(F or FJ) The official that lines up 25 yards deep in
the defensive backfield on the tight
end side of the field. His duties include:

Keep track of the play clock and
call delay of game if it expiresMake sure the defensive team has no
more than 11 players on the fieldRule on plays that cross the defense's
goal lineWatch all eligible
receivers on his side of the fieldRule on the legality of catches and
pass interference penalties on the strong side of the fieldMark the spot where a play goes out
of bounds on his side of the fieldWatch for illegal use of hands by
the receivers and defensive backs

FIELD OF PLAY
the area between both the goal lines and the sidelines, and in some
contexts the space vertically above it

FIELD POSITION:
The location of a team on the field relative to the two goal lines;
good field position for a team is near its opponents goal line, while
bad field position is close to its own goal line.

FIRST DOWNPERCENTAGE
The percentage of
relevant plays which resulted in first downs.For example, if a receiver's
First Down Percentage is 20 percent, that means one-fifth of his
catches resulted in first downs.

FLAG FOOTBALL:
Similar to most other forms of football, but with typically six to
nine players, with tackling not permitted. Instead, a flag carried on
each side of the player's belt must be plucked to constitute a tackle.

FLANKER: A
receiver lining up behind the line
of scrimmage. Frequently the team's featured receiver, the
flanker uses the initial buffer between himself and a defender to
avoid jamming, legal contact within five yards of the line of
scrimmage. The flanker is generally on the same side of the formation
as a tight end. As with the split end, this
receiver is the farthest player from center on his side of the field.

A flea-flicker is an unorthodox
play (often called a trick play) in American football. It is
designed to fool the defensive team into thinking it is a running
play instead of a passing play.

After the snap, the quarterback
hands off or laterals to a running back who then runs towards or
parallel to the line of scrimmage.
Before the running back gets to the line of scrimmage, he laterals
back to the quarterback, who then looks for a receiver
to throw the ball to.

If the defensive players think it
is just a normal running play, they will run upfield to try to tackle
the running back, leaving the quarterback free from any immediate
pass rush, and leaving receivers wide open to catch a pass.

The flea flicker is an extremely
high risk play, and the result of it is almost always either a big
gain, a turnover, or a big loss. One problem is that it takes a
significant amount of time for the play to develop. During that time,
the defense might get past the offense's
blockers to tackle the running back before he can make the pitch to
the quarterback, or sack the quarterback before he can throw the
ball. And there is also the risk the running back could fumble if he
is hit as he pitches the ball.

Because of the risks it is rarely
used. However some flea flicker plays have been used in many key
National Football League games including the Super
Bowl. In Super Bowl XVII, the Washington Redskins used a flea
flicker to try to fool the Miami Dolphins. However the Dolphins were
not fooled; Miamidefensive
back Lyle Blackwood intercepted the pass. But in Super Bowl XXI,
the New York Giants successfully ran a flea flicker play against the
Denver Broncos; Quarterback Phil Simms passed the ball to receiver
Phil McConkey who ran all the way to the Broncos 1-yard line before
being tackled for a 44-yard gain. The Giants then scored a touchdown
on the next play. The most recent appearance of the flea flicker in
the NFL was in the 2005 playoffs; the Pittsburgh
Steelers used it when they won a wild card playoff
game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Joe Theismann of the Washington
Redskins famously had his career come to an end on a nationally
televised Monday Night Football game at the hands of New York Giants linebacker
Lawrence Taylor, after a failed attempt at a flea flicker which
didn't fool the Giants' defense. Upon tackling Theismann, Taylor's
entire weight came crashing down on Theismann, severely breaking his leg.

FLEXBONE FORMATION:
a formation involving three running backs
where a fullback is lined up behind the quarterback
and two wingbacks are lined up behind the line
of scrimmage at both ends of the offensive line.

An offensive alignment that
utilizes a quarterback, five offensive lineman, three running backs,
and varying numbers of tight ends and wide
receivers. The flexbone formation is a predominant running
formation derived from the wishbone formation and it features a
quarterback under center with a fullback
lined up directly behind the quarterback. There are two smaller
running backs called slotbacks aligned behind the line of scrimmage
on each side of the offensive line. The slotbacks are sometimes
incorrectly referred to as wingbacks. But, in order to be a wingback,
there must be a guard, tackle and tight end all on one side of the center
on the line of scrimmage and then the wingback off the line of scrimmage.

The basic play run from the
flexbone is known as a triple option. First, the quarterback (QB)
receives the football from the center and the fullback (FB)
either takes the football from the quarterback or 'fakes' that he
has taken the football. If the fullback takes the football, then he
runs straight into the line of scrimmage and attempts to gain
yardage. If the fullback does not take the football, then the
quarterback sprints parallel to the line of scrimmage with a slotback
trailing him. The quarterback can either turn up field or pitch the
football to the trailing slotback. Hence the term triple because the
fullback is option number one, the quarterback keeping the ball is
option number two, and the quarterback pitching to the slotback is
option number three. The triple option forces defenses
to worry about fullbacks running in the middle of the offensive line
and to worry about quarterbacks and slotbacks running to outside of
the line. The decision of who to carry the ball (which option to
make) can either be made before the play in the huddle, or during the
play by the QB, who will make
decisions based on the position and play of certain defensive players
and what they are doing. For example, if the QB keeps the ball but a
defender is coming after him, he will pitch to the slotback (or FB),
but if the defender covers the possible pitch to the slotback, the QB
will keep the ball, perhaps even faking a pitch.

FLIER (or Flyer)(fantasy
football term) An ambiguous term meaning either taking
a chance or picking a player off the waiver wire.

FLOOD:
An attempt to swamp the opposition or an area of the field with
sheer numbers of players.

A strategy used by offenses
where they send more players to a particular area of the field than
the opposition can effectively cover.

Against zone defenses,
an offense will flood a zone, forcing a defender to have to cover
more than one player.

FLY ROUTE (an
offensive play) a pattern run by a receiver, where the
receiver runs straight upfield towards the endzone. The goal of the
pattern is to outrun any defensive backs and get behind them,
catching an undefended pass while running untouched for a touchdown.
Generally, the fastest receiver on the team or any receiver faster
than the man covering him would be the one to run these routes.

Fly patterns can also be used to
clear out space for other receivers. Generally, a fly pattern will
draw the attention of both the cornerback assigned to the receiver as
well as "over the top" help from a safety. This can create
a large gap in coverage, allowing another receiver to run a shorter
route, but then gain many yards after the catch because the safety
committed to the deep man.

The famed "Hail Mary"
play generally involves between three and five receivers all running
fly routes in order to have the most chance of one of them catching
the ball and scoring or at least gaining significant yardage.

The first Hail Mary was when Dallas
Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach threw it to wide receiver Drew
Pearson in the NFC championship game against the Minnesota Vikings in 1975.

FOOTBALL:
A game played with a ball on a rectangular field, 100 yards in
length, with goal lines and goal posts at either end. Opposing teams
of 11 players each attempt to gain possession of the ball and advance
it by means of running and passing plays across the opponent's goal
line. A team doing so scores a touchdown, worth six points, and then
has the opportunity to kick the ball over the goalpost crossbar for
one extra point. A field goal -- a kick over the crossbar other than
when after a touchdown - counts three points.

A
football helmet is a protective device used primarily in American
football and Canadian football. It consists of a hard plastic top
with thick padding on the inside, a facemask made of one or more
metal bars, and a chinstrap used to secure the helmet. Some players
add polycarbonate visors to their helmets, which are used to protect
eyes from glare and impacts. They are a requirement at all levels of
organized football, except for non-tackle variations such as flag
football. Although they are protective, players can and do still
suffer head injuries such as concussion. Each position has a
different type of face mask to balance protection and visibility.

In 2002,
American football equipment manufacturer Riddell released a new
design of helmet called the Revolution [1]. The newer design was
released in response to a study on concussions. The design is
becoming more popular in the NFL and NCAA, being used by notables
such as Peyton Manning, Dwight Freeney, Casey Hampton, and Notre
Dame's Brady Quinn.

The first helmets, circa 1915, were basic, leather headgear without
face masks. With their flat top design, they bore a strong
resemblance to the soft leather headgear worn by today's wrestlers.
The design of these helmets primarily protected the players' ears;
yet, without ear holes, this type of helmet made on-field
communication virtually impossible.

Helmets with harder leather to help protect the skull first started
making an appearance during World War I. In the ensuing years,
increasingly harder leathers were used to provide even greater
protection. During the same time frame, the first fabric cushioning
came on the scene to help absorb the shock brought upon by
collisions. Helmet makers also began to phase out the flat top
design, replacing it with a more oval shape. The advantage to this
new shape was it allowed for blows to the head to be deflected to one
side, rather than forcing the top of the head to absorb most of the impact.

Football helmet design took a giant step in 1939 when the John T.
Riddell Company introduced plastic helmets. This also led the way for
a redesign of helmet straps, which to this point, were designed to be
affixed around the neck. The redesign called for the straps to attach
to the chin.

Within 10 years, leather helmets became obsolete. Two other
significant events took place in the 1940s. The National Football
League (NFL) made football helmets required equipment, and the first
face mask was developed.

FORMATION:
The arrangement of the players at the beginning of each play. There
are several formations. Some of the most common are the punt
formation, I formation, T
formation, and wishbone formation. These
are generally named for the shape of the formation. For instance, an
I formation involves two running backs in
a line (I-shaped) behind the quarterback, and was
invented by college coach Tom Nugent in the 1950s. The wishbone
formation has the two half-backs on each side of the full-back set
back a few yards as opposed to the T formation in which all three
backs are in a line parallel to the line
of scrimmage.

FORWARD PASS:
Throwing of the ball "forward", or in the direction of
advancement (towards the opponents' goal). A team is
allowed to throw only one forward pass per play, and it must be
thrown from behind the teams line of scrimmage.

FORWARD PROGRESS:
the location to which a ball carrier
has advanced the ball, even if he was pushed backwards after getting there.

FOUL:
A breaking of the rules. Any violation of a playing rule. Common
fouls are holding (grasping an
opponent, unless the opponent has the ball), personal
fouls (tripping an opponent or striking an opponent with
one's hand, knee, or head), interference
(a defensive player contacting a receiver to
stop the completion of a pass or kick by contacting the player before
he has the ball), clipping (pushing an
opponent in the back), and face mask(grabbing
an opponent's face mask).

Adowned
linemen's stance with four points on the ground, in other words,
his two feet and his two hands.

In the four point stance the player
places the second hand to the ground as well. The weight ratio
between the hands and feet in the four point stance is 1-1.
This stance is often used by linemen in obvious running downs to keep
the line low and firing out at the opponent. It is also used by
many power running teams as they pass very infrequently. It is
difficult to pass block from the four point stance.

FOURTH DOWN
4th and last of a series of plays in which the offensive team must
advance at least 10 yards or lose possession.

FR An acronym
for Fumbles Recovered-
usually found in a Teams or Individual Players STAT Reports

FRANCHISE:
a team; the legal arrangement that establishes ownership of a team.

FRANKFORD YELLOW
JACKETS The
Frankford Yellow Jackets were a team in the National Football
League. Frankford is a section of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania,
located in the northeastern part of the city, noted chiefly for the
elevated subway line that originates there. The Yellow Jackets played
in the NFL from 1924 until 1931, failing to complete their schedule
in the last year, mainly due to financial hardships brought on by the
Great Depression. They won the NFL title in 1926, and were co-founded
- and co-owned throughout their existence - by Bert Bell and Lud Wray.

The team often played a grueling
schedule of 15 to 20 games a season. Frequently, they would schedule
a home game on Saturday and an away game on Sunday of the same
weekend, due to Pennsylvania
blue laws.

On October 26, 1931, the franchise
suspended operations one day after the team defeated the Chicago
Bears 13-12 at Wrigley Field a result that ultimately took on some
historical significance because it would be the last time the
Philadelphia-based NFL team won an away game over the Bears until
October 17, 1999, when the Philadelphia Eagles won 20-16 at Soldier
Field (Philadelphia also went 51 years without a road victory over
the Green Bay Packers, the Eagles' 1979 win at Green Bay being the
first since the Yellow Jackets had won there in 1928). Indeed, Bell
and Wray reactivated the franchise on July 9, 1933 under the name "Philadelphia
Eagles;" however, due to the gap in time between the Yellow
Jackets' demise and the Eagles' birth (and the fact that virtually no
players who were on the 1931 Yellow Jackets' roster also played for
the 1933 Eagles), the NFL officially treats the two franchises as
separate entities despite the commonality and continuity of their ownership.

FRAN TARKENTON RULE Enacted in 1965 - a line judge was added as the sixth official.

FREE AGENT:
A professional athlete who is not constrained to deal with one team.
Rather, a free agent may sign with any team he or she chooses.

A player whose contract with his
most recent team has expired, allowing him to sign a new contract
with any team that makes him an offer.

FREE KICK:
A kickoff or safety kick. It may be a placekick, dropkick, or punt,
except a punt may not be used on a kickoff following a touchdown,
successful field goal, or to begin each half or overtime period. A
tee cannot be used on a fair-catch or safety kick.

A free kick is a special play which
does not occur from scrimmage. The kicking team begins behind the
ball, while the receiving team must remain at least 10 yards
downfield before the ball is kicked.

A kickoff is a kind of free kick
used to start each half, and also used to restart the game following
a field goal or touchdown. At the beginning of a half, the kicking
team is determined by coin toss. After a field goal or touchdown, the
kicking team is the team which just scored. A tee is used, unless the
ball is blown off the tee by winds twice in succession, in which case
the ball must be held by a member of the kicking team. The receiving
team may recover and attempt to advance the ball at any time after
the kick, but the kicking team may not field the ball until it has
traveled at least 10 yards. The ball is usually kicked as deep as
possible to the receiving team, in order to force the receivers to
start far down the field, but sometimes a team will attempt to
recover its own short kick, in a play known as an onside kick.

A free kick is also used to restart
the game following a safety. The team that was trapped in its own end
zone, therefore conceding two points to the other team, kicks the
ball from its own 20-yard line. In this case, the free kick may be
either punted or kicked from the ground, but a tee may not be used
and the ball may not be held on the ground.

In the NFL and high school, a free
kick may be taken on the play immediately after a fair
catch.

FREE SAFETY:
One of the two defensive backs deepest
in the field who isn't assigned a particular area or player to cover
and is thus "free"' to follow the play anywhere it goes and
generally must be a solid pass defender. Also,
see Strong Safety.

He has to roam way
back and stay there most of the time, just in case somebody (or a
group of somebodies) really screw things up in the front and his
job is to make Absolutely Positively sure nobody's getting past him.

YOU KNOW HE'S
DOING HIS JOB WHEN:
No matter what happens, by the time the free safety is involved,
things mostly suck. If they suck bad, he may have helped keep it from
sucking worse.

YOU KNOW HE'S
NOT WHEN:
Things have gone from totally sucking to totally screwed.

FULLBACK:
FULLBACK: A member of the offense,
whose job it is to block for the halfback and quarterback,
but he also runs the ball, and receives passes. Fullbacks are
usually bigger than running backs, and
also serve as short-yardage runners.

The name derives from the fact that
in an I formation the Fullback is the
furthest back, or a full way back. See quarterback
and halfback to further clarify.

Well, all of these backs - the
Quarter, the Half, and the Full - all stand behind the front
scrimmage line. Hence, Back. Why the percentage prefixes? Well, there
are four backs allowed on the field behind the line
of scrimmage, and some genius decided to call the positions the
Quarter-back, the Half-back, the Full-back and the Set-back.

The-Full back is the big monster of
the backs, and his job is mainly to make sure the Half-back gets his
hole and can keep himself on his feet for as long as possible.
Alternately, he becomes the last line of defense
for the quarterback should one of those big neanderthals on the front
line manage to break through and attempt to use the QB
as a welcome mat. He's the bodyguard guy.

FUM An acronym
for Fumbles-
usually found in a Teams or Individual Players STAT
Reports for* RUSHING STATISTICS - Total fumbles* RECEIVING STATISTICS - Total fumbles

FUMBLE:
A ball that is dropped while in play. When a ball
carrier loses possession by dropping the ball or having it
knocked away before a play ends; the first player to regain
possession of the loose ball is said to make the recovery, and his
team becomes the offense.

A fumble occurs when an offensive
player such as the quarterback or a running
back drops the ball while it is still in play. A fumble may also
be forced by a defensive player who either grabs or punches the ball
or butts the ball with his helmet (a move called "tackling
the ball"). A fumbled ball may be recovered and advanced by
either team (except at the end of the game, when the original
fumbler is the only offensive player permitted to touch the ball, and
even he may not advance it). It is one of two events considered
to be turnovers, where possession of the ball can change during play.

Fumbles usually occur during the
snap, while running the ball, or in a failed attempt at a lateral
pass. Technically, however, if a player drops the ball while
attempting to catch a lateral pass it is a muff (you can't
"fumble" a loose ball). The result is the same and most
announcers will still call it a fumble. Muffs also result when the
ball is improperly fielded on kicking plays such as punts.

G An acronym
for Games
- usually found in a Teams or Individual Players STAT Reports

GAMBLE (fantasy
football term) A player with both high potential and high
risk. Players in this category are usually injury-prone, have a high
probability for being suspended, or are approaching the end of their career.

GAME BALL:
The ball given to a winning team's player or coach considered to
have most contribution to their win (supposed to be the ball or a
ball the game was played with).

MATT KRYGER / The Star

Colts head coach Tony Dungy
holds the game ball aloft after the team's 17-13 win over the Cardinals.January
1, 20062005 season

GAME DATA CARD and PENCIL
Officials write down important administrative information, such as
the winner of the pregame coin toss, team timeouts, and fouls called.
Game data cards can be disposable paper or reusable plastic. A pencil
with a special bullet-shaped cap is often carried. The cap prevents
the official from being stabbed by the pencil while it is in his pocket.

GARBAGE TIME also
known as Junk time, is a term used to refer to the
period of time at the end of a game when the outcome of the game has
already been decided, and the coaches of one or both teams will
decide to replace their best players with substitutes. This serves to
give those substitutes playing time experience in an actual game
situation, as well as to protect the best players from the
possibility of injury.

GOAL
a surface in space marked by a structure of two upright posts 18
feet 6 inches apart extending above a horizontal crossbar whose top
edge is 10 feet off the ground. The goal is the surface above the bar
and between the lines of the inner edges of the posts, extending
infinitely upward, centered above each end line.

GOAL LINE:
The line over which the ball must pass to score a touchdown.
There are two, one at each end of the field, ten yards from the ends
of the field.

The goal line is the chalked or
painted line dividing the end zone from the
field of play .

If any part of the ball reaches any
part of the imaginary vertical plane transected
by this line while in-bounds and in possession of a player whose team
is striving toward that end of the field, this is called a touchdown
and scores six points for the team whose player has advanced the ball
to, or recovered the ball in, this position.

If any member of the offensive team
is downed while in possession of the ball and at or behind the goal
toward which the other team is striving, this is called a safety
and scores two points for the defensive team.

If, during the course of play, a
loose ball travels past the goal line and is recovered within the end
zone, then it is a touchdown if recovered by the team striving toward
that goal, or a touchback if recovered and
downed by the team striving toward the goal at the opposite end of
the field.

GOAL LINE FORMATION(Offensive Formation)
This formation typically has two tight ends,
a full back, a running back, the quarterback,
the full offensive line, and an extra offensive lineman known as a
jumbo. The jumbo is typically an ineligible
receiver(because of his number)
unless the offense tells the referees that he
will be catching a pass. This formation is used for gaining a small
amount of yardage and is typically only employed when the offense is
very close to the end zone.

(Defensive Formation)Defense
used on the goal line or in short yardage where the entire defense
lines up close to the line of scrimmage
in an attempt to stop an expected running play. It is usually used to
counter a Goal Line offense.

GOAL LINE STAND:
Stopping the opposition at or near one's goal-line on a series of plays.

A goal line stand usually
refers to a team's effort that keeps the opposition out of the end
zone after they have started with a first down
inside the five-yard line.

GOAL POST:
a tall metallic structure that stands at the back of each end
zone; consists of a crossbar and two uprights that extend upward
from it, supported directly above the end line by a base; teams try
to kick the ball above the crossbar and between the uprights to score
a field goal or extra point.

GOING FOR IT:
when a team facing a fourth down decides
to try for a new first down instead of
punting; if it fails, it loses possession of the ball.

GRANGE, HAROLD "RED "
Red Grange

After winning sixteen letters in four sports in high school, Grange
entered the University of
Illinois in 1922. He was
one of more than three hundred players who turned out for freshman
football, and he decided he'd never make the team. But his fraternity
brothers pressured him into going back to the practice field. He not
only made the team, he scored two touchdowns in a scrimmage against
the varsity, one of them on a 60-yard punt return.

Red Grange made the Number 77 famous

Wearing the Number 77 that he soon made famous, Grange started as a
sophomore and scored three touchdowns, on runs of 12, 35, and 60
yards, in his first game. Against the University
of Chicago, he returned an
interception 43 yards to set up the winning touchdown-which he
scored. He had a 92-yard interception return against Northwestern.
After leading the Western Conference (now the Big Ten) in scoring, he
was named an All-American halfback.

Early in the 1924 season, Illinois
faced a University of
Michigan team that had
been unbeaten in twenty consecutive games. Michigan
athletic director and former coach "Hurry-Up" Yost assured
the press, "Mr. Grange will be carefully watched every time
he takes the ball. There will be eleven clean, hard Michigan
tacklers headed for him."

Born: June 13, 1903
Died: Jan. 28, 1991

3-time All-America at Illinois
who brought 1st huge crowds to pro football when he signed with
Chicago Bears in 1925; formed 1st AFL with manager-promoter C.C. Pyle
in 1926, but league folded and he returned to Bears.

College Football Hall of Fame;
Pro Football Hall of Fame

Grange responded by scoring touchdowns the first four times
he touched the ball, in twelve minutes of the first quarter.
Grange returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, then
scored on 67, 56 and 44-yard runs from scrimmage - all in the first
12 minutes of the game. He ran for a fifth touchdown in the second
half and passed for a sixth score. All told, he accounted for 402
yards total offense as Illinois
won, 39-14.

After scoring three touchdowns in 21-21 tie with the University
of Chicago, Grange was
injured during the game with Minnesota
and Illinois lost. He
missed the final game of the season, a victory over OhioState, but was still an
All-American for the second year in a row.

Already known as the "Galloping Ghost" and the
"Illinois Flash," Grange captained the Illini in 1925.
After the young team lost three of its first four games, he was moved
to quarterback
and Illinois won the
final four games. Grange's greatest performance came on a muddy field
against Pennsylvania
before 65,000 spectators. He gained 363 yards on 36 carries, scoring
three touchdowns, in a 24-2 victory.

An All-American for the third time, Grange left college immediately
after his final game to tour with the Chicago Bears. He actually had
a personal services contract for more than $100,000 with promoter
Charles C. "Cash and Carry" Pyle, who in turn sold his
services to the Bears.

The tour was not totally successful. Grange missed several games with
injury and played only briefly in several others. However, he
attracted 65,000 fans in New York,
by far the largest crowd to have seen a professional game at that
time. That record was broken in January, when 75,000 turned out in
Los Angeles to watch
Grange and the Bears.

Pyle also got Grange a role in a football movie, One Minute to Play,
and Grange later did a vaudeville tour and two other movies. One of
Pyle's ambitions was to get a New York
franchise in the NFL, but he was turned down, so he started the
American Football League, with Grange playing for the New York
Yankees. The AFL barely made it through the 1926 season, and the
Yankees were then admitted into the NFL. Grange's knee was badly
injured in a game against the Bears, and he was never again the same player.

After sitting out the 1928 season, he joined the Bears in 1929 and
played with them through 1934. No longer an outstanding runner, he
was still a very good player, and a genuine defensive star. He was
named to the first official All-Pro team chosen, in 1931, and was an
All-Pro again in 1932.

When the Bears beat the Portsmouth Spartans for the 1932 NFL
championship, Grange scored the only touchdown on a pass from Bronko
Nagurski. And he saved the 1933 championship game against the New
York Giants. With the Bears leading 23-21 in the closing seconds, a
Giant halfback broke loose and had a teammate trailing him, waiting
for a lateral. Grange alertly pinioned the runner's arms to keep him
from lateraling the ball and then threw him to the ground.

After missing the 1934 championship game with an injury, Grange
played in a post-season exhibition game on
January 27, 1935.
He broke into the open on a 50-yard run, but was caught from behind
by a lineman. He decided it was time to retire.

GREENBAY PACKERS - NFC North

The Green Bay Packers American
football club is a National Football League team based in Green
Bay, Wisconsin.
Founded in 1919, the team joined the NFL in 1921 during the league's
second season. The Packers are currently the only publicly owned
professional sports team in the United
States(although
the Chicago
Cubs are owned by the publicly owned Tribune Company).

The team currently holds
the record for the most NFL league championships with 12: nine NFL
Championships prior to the Super Bowl era,
and Super Bowl XXXI. The team also holds the distinction of winning
the first two AFL-NFL Championship Games that were held before the
AFL-NFL Merger.

The Packers are now the only
publicly owned company with a board of directors in American
professional sports. Typically, a team is owned by one person,
partnership, or corporate entity; thus, a "team owner." It
has been speculated that this is one of the reasons the Green Bay
Packers have never been moved from the city of Green
Bay,
a city of just over 100,000 people. By comparison, the typical NFL
football city must be populated in the millions to support a team.
However, the Packers have long had a large following throughout the
state of Wisconsin;
in fact, for decades, the Packers played several home games each
year in Milwaukee.
The Packers did not move their entire home schedule to Green
Bay
until 1995.

Based on the original 'Articles of
Incorporation for the (then) Green Bay Football Corporation' put into
place in 1923, if the Packers franchise was sold, after the payment
of all expenses, any remaining monies would go to the Sullivan-Wallen
Post of the American Legion in order to build "a proper
soldier's memorial." This stipulation was enacted to ensure that
the club remained in Green
Bay
and that there could never be any financial enhancement for the
shareholders. At the November 1997 annual meeting, shareholders voted
to change the beneficiary from the Sullivan-Wallen Post to the Green
Bay Packers Foundation.

The guard's job is to protect the quarterback
from the oncoming defensive line and linebackers
during pass plays, as well as creating openings (holes) for
the running backs to head through. Guards
perform speed blocking and "pulling"--sprinting out in
front of a running back in order to block for him. Guards are
automatically considered ineligible receivers, so they cannot touch a
pass, unless it is to recover a fumble or is first touched by a
defender or eligible receiver.

Guards, like other linemen, today
are often over 300 pounds.

Jersey
Numbers: 60 - 79

On either side of the Center
are the right and left guards. They have two possible jobs, depending
on the play. They can either bully a hole in the line
of scrimmage for a running backs

to run through, or they can
turn into stone walls and simply keep the defensive guys from running
through the center of the line to the quarterback. Preferably, they
can do both at the same time.

You know
they're doing their job when:
The quarterback is still standing at the end of the play, and, if one
of the running backs tries to run the ball up the middle, there's a
hole there for him to run through.

You know they
aren't when:
The quarterback gets clobbered from the front, or therunning
backis
stopped cold right at the line of scrimmage where the play started.
(Or worse)

GUNNER:
The members of the special teams who specialize in racing downfield
to tackle the kick or punt returner. The gunners usually line up to
the outside of the offensive line and are often double teamed by blockers.

A player on the kick
cover team that is the first down the field to make a play on the returner.

HALAS, GEORGE
George Halas was a pioneer of professional football. He
organized, owned, and coached the Chicago Bears, one of the original
teams in the NFL. Halas was born in Chicago.
He formed the Decatur (I11) Stanley
professional team in 1920 and help found the National Football League
(NFL). He moved the team to Chicago
in 1921 and renamed it the Chicago Bears in 1922. He played end
for the team until 1929. He coached the Bears from 1920 to
1929, 1933 to 1942, 1946 to 1955, and 1958 to 1968. Halas'
Bears won six NFL championships. Halas was elected to the NFL
Hall of Fame in 1963.

In
the late 1930s, Halas and Clark Shaughnessy helped set the stage for
modern, wide-open football by adding the man-in-motion to the t-formation.
The t-formation was primarily responsible for the great success of
the Chicago Bearsin the 1940s.

In fact,
using this new formation the Bears rolled up the largest margin
of victory and the highest score in the history of professional
football against the New York Giants in the 1940 championship
game. The Bears won 73-0. This forever entrenched George
Halas, or (Papa Bear), as he is affectionately known, as one of the
greatest, if not the greatest, coach in the history of professional football.

HAIL MARY:
Thequarterbackthrowing
the ball up in the air without really targeting any particular receiver,
hoping
someone on his side catches it.

A Hail Mary pass
or Hail Mary play is a forward pass made in desperation, with
only a very small chance of success. The typical Hail Mary is a very
long forward pass thrown at or near the end of a half where there is
no realistic possibility for any other play to work, though the most
famous were thrown at the end of a game. The phrase derives from the
name of a prominent Roman
Catholic prayer to the Virgin Mary.
The point is
that the success of such a pass is so unlikely that it would need
divine intervention to work.

HAMMOND PROS
The Hammond Pros from Hammond,
Indiana
played in the National Football League from 1920 to 1926. Of the nine African-American
players in the league during those years, six played for the Pros.

HALFBACK:
Also referred to as Tailback or Runningback. A member of theoffense,
whose job it is to run the ball, receive passes, and block for a
teammate running the ball. The name derives from the fact that in anI
formationthe
Halfback is half way between the Quarterbackand
the Fullback, or half the way back. See QuarterbackandFullback
to further clarify.

Unless you're
watching a very gifted team, you're probably seeing the ball being
humped up the field by runners at least three times as much as you
see it being plucked out of the sky. They call that "the ground
game," and the half-back is one of the three guys that do it. In
fact, the half-back (tail back) is the main guy who does it,
and if your teams lucky enough to find a good one, he's going to rack
up an obscene amount of carries per season. That's why he's called a
"Running back." He runs.

HALFBACK OPTION
PLAY a
trick play in which the halfback throws a pass.

The halfback option
play is an unorthodox play in American football. It resembles a
normal running play, but therunning
back has the
option to throw a pass to awide
receiverortight
endbefore
crossing theline
of scrimmage.

The key to the play
is fooling the defensive players, primarily thedefensive
backs. If
the defensive backs think it is just a normal running play, they
will first immediately run upfield to try to tackle the running back,
leaving the wide receivers wide open to catch a pass. Of course, if
the defensive backs are not fooled, the running back carrying the
ball does have the option to run instead of risking an incomplete
pass or an interception.

The running play that
halfback options usually resemble is a sweep play. Sometimes the quarterback will
run out of the backfield and become a receiving option for the
running back. This can be effective because the quarterback usually
does very little after handing off or pitching the ball to the
running back on most plays, and thedefense
might not be expecting him to be used as an active receiver.

The halfback option
play usually has limited success and is not commonly used.

HALF TIME
The game of football is played in two halves. Half-time is the name
given to the interval between the two halves of the match.
While it exists mainly to provide competitiors to rest briefly and
recover from the play of the first half, half-time also serves a
number of other purposes.

Half-time for
spectators offers the opportunity to visit the toilet, get some food
or drink, or just exercise cramped limbs, without the fear of missing
any of the action. A show may be put on for the spectators to keep
their attention, most
famously in the case of the American football Super Bowl. As
many spectators at the ground may be otherwise occupied using stadium
facilities it might be inferred that the scale and spectacle of
half-time entertainment is more directly related to the size of the
potential television audience.

Half-time offers the
opportunity to advertise, a valuable source of revenue for television
companies. In addition, it allows analysis of the game so far by
pundits. Controversial incidents or exceptional play may be
highlighted at this time. It also allows viewers to catch up with any
action that they may have missed.

HAND OFF:
Quite literally what it says: to hand the ball off to a teammate. A
running play where the quarterbackhands
the ball to a back.

HANDS TEAM
A team of sure-handed players that specializes in recovering onside
kicks. During an onside kick, both teams put in their hands teams so
they have the players on the field with the best ball-handling skills.

HASH MARKS:
The two rows of lines near the center of the field marked off in
one-yard increments. These marks divide the field into thirds.
Whenever the ball becomes dead on or outside one of these marks, it
is placed on its respective hash mark.

On an NFL football
field, the hash marks are 4 inches wide and located 70 feet, 9 inches
from the sidelines.

HAT
If a player not carrying the ball steps out of bounds (awide
receiverrunning
a deep passing route or a player running downfield on punt coverage,
for example), the official will drop his hat to mark the spot of
where the player went out of bounds. The hat also is often used: to
signal a second foul called by the official on a play (by those
officials that may carry only one flag); to indicate unsportsmanlike
conduct committed against the official himself (as when a player
shoves an official); or when some other situation requires a physical
mark and the official has already used the ordinary item on the play.

H-BACK a
player listed in a roster or depth chart as a fullback and playing
as a hybrid of a fullback and atight
end.

An H-Back is an
offensive position in American football that is a hybrid between a
fullback and a tight end. One team that prominently utilizes the
H-back position is the Washington Redskins under head coach Joe
Gibbs, who is one of the first coaches to use the positions. Gibbs is
credited for revolutionizing the position.

Unlike the tight end,
which Gibbs uses almost exclusively as an extra blocker on the
offensive line, the H-back is asked to block, pass protect, and run
receiving routes from multiple sets. The H-back can line up in the
backfield, on the line, or is put into motion. On one play, he may be
asked to serve as lead blocker for the tailback. The next, he may be
sprinting 15 yards downfield to catch a pass. Due to the complexity
of the position, a thorough knowledge of theoffenseis
desirable in an H-back.

HEAD COACH:
The member of the coaching staff that is responsible for all aspects
of the team, and is in charge of all other coaches.

A professional
who is responsible for the overall actions of the players of the team
he is associated with. He is typically paid more than other coaches.
Other coaches are often subordinate to the head coach, often in
offensive positions or defensive positions, and occasionally
proceeding down into individualized position coaches.

HEAD LINESMAN:
(H or HL) The head linesman is the official
that sets up straddling theline
of scrimmageon
the sideline designated by the referee. His duties include:

Despite his nickname,
the 6-foot-3 Heffelfinger weighed only 178 pounds when he entered
Yale in 1888. Within a year, he was up to about 205 pounds and he was
the best college lineman in the country. He was a guard on the first
All-American team selected, in 1889, and he was named to the team
again in 1890 and 1891.

Yale in 1890
developed a new kind of play to take advantage of Heffelfinger's
speed and strength. Instead of simply blocking the defensive player
across from him at theline
of scrimmage,
he was often asked to pull out of the line to lead interference for
the runner. The pulling guard has been a standard feature of American
football ever since.

Born: Dec.
20, 1867, Minneapolis,
MNDied: April
5, 1954

Considered the first professional
football player

During his
four-year career at Yale, the school won 54 games while losing only
2. There were no limits on eligibility at that time and a student
newspaper led a campaign to get him to play a fifth season, using the
slogan, "Linger, oh linger, Heffelfinger," but he chose to
play for the Chicago Athletic Association instead.

On November
12, 1892,
Heffelfinger played a game for the Duquesne Athletic Club of
Pittsburgh. He was paid $500, the first time a player was known to be
given money, although there may well have been under-the-table
payments before that. Heffelfinger forced a fumble, picked up the
ball, and ran 35 yards for the only touchdown as Duquesne beat the
arch-rival Allegheny Athletic Association.

Heffelfinger coached LehighUniversity
to a 6-8-0
record in 1894 and had a 7-3-0
record at the University
of Minnesota
in 1895. He then became a stockbroker, but occasionally helped with
the coaching at Minnesota.
In 1916, he returned to Yale to coach the linemen but, in his
exuberant demonstration of how the game should be played, he knocked
two of them out of action.

At fifty-four,
Heffelfinger captained an all-star team that played a 1922 game
against the OhioState
alumni to raise money for charity. He was on the field for 51 minutes
in a 16-0 victory. On November
11, 1933,
a few weeks before his sixty-fifth birthday, he played nine minutes
in another charity game, his final appearance in a football uniform.

HEISMAN TROPHY:

an award presented
annually by the Downtown Athletic Club of New York to the best
college football player in the country.

HEISMAN, JOHN WILLIAM
John William Heisman (October 23, 1869 October 3, 1936) was born
Johann Wilhelm Heisman, on October 23, 1869, at 183 Bridge Avenue in
Cleveland, Ohio, two weeks to the day before the first
official intercollegiate football gamewas
played on November 6, between Rutgers and Princeton, both in New Jersey.

John Heisman was a
prominent American football player and college football coach in the
early era of the sport and is the namesake of the Heisman Trophy
awarded annually to the season's best college football player.

He was born in Cleveland,
Ohio,
but grew up in Titusville,
Pennsylvania,
where he played football for TitusvilleHigh
School,
graduating in 1887. He went on to play football at BrownUniversity
1887-1889 and at the University
of Pennsylvania
1890-1891. He coached at OberlinCollege
in 1893, went to the University
of Akron
in 1894, and returned to Oberlin the next year. In 1895, he went to AuburnUniversity,
where he stayed for five years. With all these schools combined, he
lost only five games.

In 1900, he went to ClemsonUniversity,
where he coached for four seasons before moving to Georgia Tech. He
put together a spectacular 16 seasons there, including three
undefeated seasons and a 32-game undefeated streak. He was coaching
the Georgia Tech Engineers when they defeated the Cumberland
University Bulldogs 222-0 in a game played in Atlanta in 1916, in the
most one-sided college football game ever played, during which the
Engineers scored with every possession of the ball. Heisman's running
up the score against a totally outmanned opponent (supposedly
motivated by revenge against Cumberland's baseball team running up
the score against Tech 22-0 the previous year) was to prove a point
that many would still consider valid, namely that the voters in media
polls purporting to rank college football teams pay far too much
opinion to the margin of victory at the expense of other factors,
including the quality of opponents played, and that a truly superior
team can schedule opponents so weak that it can essentially score as
many points as it desires, rendering margin of victory useless as a
measure of relative strength compared to other good teams.

He went back to Pennsylvania
for one season in 1920, then to Washington
and JeffersonCollege,
before ending his career with four seasons at RiceUniversity.

He was an innovator
and developed one of the first shifts, had both guards pull to lead
an end run, and had his center toss the ball back, instead of rolling
or kicking it. He was a proponent of the legalization of the forward pass.

Heisman subsequently
became the athletics director of the former Downtown Athletic Club in Manhattan,
New
York,
and in 1935 the club began awarding annually in his honor what is
now almost universally referred to as the Heisman Trophy, given to
the player voted as the season's best collegiate player. Voters for
this award consist primarily of media representatives, who are
allocated by regions across the country in order to filter out
possible regional bias, and former recipients. Following the
bankruptcy of the Downtown Athletic Club in 2002, the award is now
given out by the Yale Club.

John Heisman Quotes

Don't cuss. Don't
argue with the officials. Anddon't lose the game.

To break training
without permission is an act of treason.

Gentlemen, it is
better to have died as a small boy than to fumble this football.

When in doubt, punt!

When you find your
opponent's weak spot, hammer it.

Heston, "Willie"
William M.

Willie Heston was the
third Michigan
player to be named to the All-American team and the first to be
chosen by Walter Camp. He was also chosen on several All-Time
All-American teams. Unequaled at hitting a line, Heston also had one
of the fastest starts in football, and reputedly could out run
Michigan's Olympic 100 meter gold medalist Archie Hahn over 20 yards.

"Hurry-Up"
Yost, his
coach at the University
of Michigan,
once said that Heston had scored at least 100 touchdowns in his
four-year career, but Heston modestly admitted to only 93.

Heston first played
guard at San Jose Normal, now San
JoseState,
in California.
He captained the team in 1900. Yost, then coaching Stanford, was
asked to help coach San
Jose
for its big game against ChicoState.
He moved Heston to halfback and San
Jose
won the game.

HIGHLIGHTFILM:
Highlight film is a video synopsis of an athletic team's entire
season, especially one produced about such a team in the United
States.

The practice of teams
producing highlight films appears to have emerged gradually during
the 1970s; a particularly notable offering of this genre was that of
the 1979 Dallas Cowboys; its title, America's
Team, ended up being popularly applied to the club itself.

Today virtually all
American sports teams produce annual highlight films, regardless of
the outcome (good or bad) of the club's season; originally turned out
as video cassettes, they are more commonly now done in DVD format.

HITCHHITCH AND GO:
A maneuver where a runner goes downfield to catch a pass, fakes a
quick turn (as if to catch), then continues downfield for a
deeper pass.

A Hitch route is a pattern run by a
receiver where the receiver will act like he is running a pattern
down field, taking possibly one or two steps forward before quickly
stopping and looking for a quick pass before the defender has a
chance to react and try to deflect the pass.

This route can also be used in what
is called a screen, where while the receiver is receiving the pass,
one or more lineman, tight ends, or running backs will run in the
direction of the receiver in order to block the initial pursuing
defenders so that the receiver has time and space to be able to run
after the catch.

The holder is the player who
receives the snap during field goal and extra point attempts. The
holder is usually positioned between seven and eight yards behind the line
of scrimmage. The
holder kneels down and places the hand furthest from the line of
scrimmage on the ground with the other hand held out waiting for the
ball to be snapped to him. After receiving the ball the holder places
it on the ground, as quickly as possible, so that one end is touching
the ground and the other end is supported by one finger. The holder
also rotates the ball so that the laces are facing towards the goal posts.

During a "fake field
goal" attempt the holder will pick the ball up and either
throw a forward pass or run with the ball.

There can also be a holder during
kickoffs and free kicks, but this is reserved for when the ball tee
cannot keep the ball up by itself, usually due to wind.

HOLDING:
a foul where a player impedes the movement of an opponent by
grasping or hooking any part of his body or uniform; punishable by a
penalty 10 yards if against the offense,
5 yards (10 yards in college) plus a first
down if against the defense.

There is illegal use of the hands
or arms while blocking, usually a grasp or a tackle of a defending
player; an automatic safety is assessed if the spot of the infraction
is within the offensive team's own end zone.

Referee signal: one forearm
vertically held in front of the body with a closed fist facing the
referee's chest; the other hand grasping the first arm's wrist.

The penalty is enforced from the
previous spot, unless the infraction occurred beyond the line of
scrimage or during a running play, in which the penalty is enforced
from the spot of the foul.

HOLY ROLLER GAME
the Holy Roller (known as the Immaculate Deception by San
Diego
Chargers fans) was an
infamous, controversial game-winning play executed by the Oakland
Raiders against the Chargers on September
10, 1978. The
game was played at the Chargers' home field, Jack Murphy Stadium (now
Qualcomm Stadium).

What some believe should have been
called an incomplete pass (and possibly intentional grounding) was
seen as a fumble and the rest of the play involved illegal batting of
the ball. The officials did not think the illegal actions were
obvious enough to call a penalty so the play ended in a touchdown.

With 10 seconds left in the
game, the Raiders had possession of the ball at the Chargers 14-yard
line, trailing 20-14. Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler took the snap
and found himself about to be sacked by Chargers linebacker Woody
Lowe on the 24-yard line. Stabler lost the ball, and it rolled
forward towards the San
Diego
goal line. Running back Pete Banaszak tried to recover the ball on
the 12-yard line, but could not keep his footing, and the ball was
pushed even closer to the end zone. Raiders tight end Dave Casper was
the next player to reach the ball but he also could not get a handle
on it. He batted and kicked the ball into the end zone, where he fell
on it for the game-tying touchdown as time ran out. The Raiders won,
21-20, with the ensuing extra point by placekicker Errol Mann.

During the play, the game
officials ruled that Banaszak and Casper's
actions were legal because it was impossible to determine if they
intentionally batted the ball forward, which would have been ruled a
penalty. The National Football League (NFL) also backed up referee
Jerry Markbreit's call that Stabler fumbled the ball instead of
throwing a forward pass.

However, when asked after the
game by radio announcer Bill King if he intentionally fumbled,
Stabler said, "You bet your ass I did." Banaszak and Casper
also admitted that they deliberately batted the ball towards the end zone.

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE:
the benefit a team gets by playing games in the area where it is
based, due to fan support (noise), familiarity with its
surroundings and the lack of required travel.

The Houston Texans
American football club is a National Football League team based in Houston,
Texas.
The Texans joined the NFL as a 2002 expansion team. The city's
previous franchise, the Houston Oilers, moved to Nashville,
Tennessee
in 1997 and changed their name to the Tennessee Titans.

Year founded: 2002

City:
Houston,
Texas

Uniform colors:
Steel blue, Battle
red, and Liberty white

Helmet design: Blue
helmet with a bull head in the red, white, and blue colors of the Texas flag

Head Coach:
Gary Kubiak

HUDDLE:
When the 11 players on the field from one team form a group in order
to secretly communicate instructions of the upcoming play.
Between plays, the players on each side of the ball huddle to discuss
strategy- Unless yourThe
Indianapolis Coltswith
a No Huddle!

HUNT, LAMAR
(August 2, 1932 - December 13, 2006)

Hunt, the pro sports
visionary who was the founder and owned the Kansas City Chiefs and
came up with the term "Super Bowl," one of Americas
most innovative and creative sports figures of the past half-century,
died about 9:40
p.m.December
13, 2006
at a Dallas
hospital of complications from prostate cancer. He was 74.

Hunt is one of the
most influential sports promoters in the United
States.
He was one of the founders of the American Football League and Major
League Soccer. He is also the founder and owner of the NFL's Kansas
City Chiefs and the Kansas City Wizards of the MLS.

Founding of the
American Football League

Hunt applied for an
National Football League expansion franchise but was turned down. In
1959, professional football was a distant second to Major League
baseball in popularity and the thinking among NFL executives was that
the league must be careful not to "oversaturate" the market
by expanding too quickly.

In response, in 1960
Hunt led several other investors in forming the AFL. Hunt encouraged,
wheedled, and cajoled seven other like-minded men to form this new
league. One of them, fellow Texan Bud Adams of Houston,
had likewise tried but failed to be granted an NFL franchise. Lamar
Hunt's goal was to bring professional football to Texas
and to acquire an NFL team for the Hunt family. Hunt became owner of
the Dallas Texans, and hired future hall-of-famer Hank Stram as the
teams first head coach.

HURRY Occurs
when a defense's
on-coming rush forces the quarterback to throw before he intended to,
throw erratically or off target.

HURRY UP OFFENSEHURRY-UP OFFENSE
Also considered a no-huddle offense. When a team must
score quickly or they want to confuse the defense,
they use this type of offense.
Typically, the QB will call two or more plays in
the huddle.
After the first play, the offensive team will go directly to the line
of scrimmage
and initiate the next play, and so on.

The hurry-up offense,
or two-minute drill, is an American football offensive strategy
designed to run a series of plays quickly and efficiently using as
little of the time remaining as possible. Very few rushing plays are
called and most passing plays are designed to be out patterns,
towards the sideline so the receiver can get out of bounds. Typically
a play will last between 3 and 7 seconds in a hurry-up offense.

Plays can be from
either a practiced script, called in from the sideline, or called by
the quarterback at the line of scrimmage depending on the situation.
If a defense has adjusted to an offense's gameplan well all night,
plays may be called in from the sideline ad-lib to better gain the
advantage over a defense that was prepared against what the offense
was trying to do. If a defense has not adjusted well all game, a
coach may opt to run the practiced two-minute drill done in practice
throughout the week. The hurry-up is sometimes called a no-huddle
offense, though the no-huddle is properly a subset of hurry-up offenses.

The hurry-up offense
revolves around strategic management of the remaining time of the
game clock. There are a number of techniques used to stop the clock
from running down:

Running out of bounds; Spiking the ball;Throwing an
incomplete pass; Using the two-minute warning; Using time outs;

Drawing
penalties or intentional fouls (it should be noted that this is
not always smart. If there are only a few seconds left on the clock
and someone on a team with no time-outs purposely commits a penalty,
there is a 10-second run-off).

Creating penalties by
starting plays as the defense
is still switching out players, and has the wrong number of players
on the field.

The I formation is one of the most
common offensive formations in football. The I formation draws its
name from the vertical (as viewed from the opposing endzone)
alignment of quarterback, fullback, and running
back, particularly when
contrasted with the same players' alignments in the now-archaic T formation.

The formation begins with the usual
5 offensive linemen (2 offensive
tackles, 2 guards,
and a center),
the quarterback under center, and two backs in-line behind the
quarterback. The base variant adds a tight
end to one side of the
line and two wide
receivers, one at each
end of the line.

The I formation is typically
employed in running situations. Despite the emphasis on the running
game, the I formation remains an effective base for a passing attack.
The formation supports up to three wide receivers and many running
backs serve as an additional receiving threat. While the fullback is
rarely a pass receiver, he serves as a capable additional pass
blocker protecting the quarterback before the pass. The running
threat posed by the formation also lends itself to the play-action
pass. The flexible nature of the formation also helps prevent defenses
from focusing their attention on either the run or pass.

Common variations

Many subtypes of the I formation
exist, generally emphasizing the running or passing strengths of the
base version.

* The Big I places a tight
end on each side of the offensive line (removing a wide receiver).
Coupled with the fullback's blocking, this allows two additional
blockers for a run in either direction. This is a running-emphasis variant.

* The Power I replaces one
wide receiver with a third back (fullback or running back) in
the backfield, set up to one side of the fullback. This is a
running-emphasis variant.

* The Jumbo or Goal-line formation
further extends the Power I or Big I, adding a second or third tight
end to the line, respectively. This variant has no wide receivers and
is all but exclusively a running formation intended to reliably gain
minimal yardage, most commonly two yards or less.

* The Three-wide I replaces
the tight end with a third wide receiver. This is a passing-emphasis variant.

The I formation, in any
variant, can also be modified as Strong or Weak. In either case, the
fullback lines up roughly a yard laterally to his usual position.
Strong refers to a move towards the side of the quarterback with more
players, weak in the opposite direction. These modifications have
little effect on expected play call.

In the NFL, the I formation is less
frequently used than in college. The increasingly common Ace
Formationreplaces
the fullback with an additional receiver,
who lines up along the line
of scrimmage. The I will
typically be used in short-yardage and goal line situations.

IGGLES
See Philadelphia Eagles

ILLEGALBLOCK
IN THE BACK(10 yards) - a player makes any block from
behind and above the waist. Referee signal: one forearm vertically
held in front of the body with palm facing outward; the other hand
grasping the first arm's wrist.

ILLEGALCONTACT
is when a player makes significant contact with a receiver after the
receiver has advanced five yards beyond the line of scrimmage, This
rule was adopted in 1978, and its enactment is regarded as
contributing to the dramatic increase in both passing yardage and
scoring the NFL has witnessed since that time.

Referee signal: One arm in front of
the body with palm out and fingers up, moved in a pushing motion out.

ILLEGALFORMATION:
An offensive formation in which not enough players are on the line
of scrimmage.

Fewer than 7 players on the line of
scrimmage (or more than 7 in NFL), fails to have an eligible
receiver as the leftmost and rightmost players on the line in the
NFL, or fails to have five properly numbered ineligible players on
the line.

By rule, an NFL team must have
seven men lined up on the line
of scrimmage to begin every offensive
play. Failure to do so is an illegal formation and a five-yard
penalty against the offending team.

ILLEGALFORWARDKICK
any kick made from in front of the line of scrimmage. This results in
a loss of down and a ten yard penalty. It is the least called penalty
in the National Football League

ILLEGALFORWARD
PASS(5 yards and loss of down) - a forward pass is
thrown from past the line of scrimmage, or when a second forward pass
is thrown on the same play.

Referee signal: One
hand, flat, waved behind the small of the back.

ILLEGALHANDS
TO THE FACE a player pushes or hits as a
player on offense in the head or helmet.

Referee signal: One
open fist in a pushing motion to the referee's chin.

ILLEGAL MOTION:
(Penalty against the offense)
An illegal movement where two offensive players are in motion at the
same time when the ball is snapped.

Referee signal: One arm in
front of chest, palm open and down, with the elbow out to the side,
moved away from chest.

Illegal motion results in a
five yard penalty against the offending team.

ILLEGALPARTICIPATION(Penalty
- 15 yards) - twelve players participate during the play,
either because twelfth player is not detected before the snap or
enters during the play. Illegal participation is also called when an
offensive player goes out of bounds (unless forced out by contact by
the defense) and returns during the play.
Referee signal: two hands, palms down, touching the top of the head,
with an elbow out to each side.

Football Terminology

Last updated on December
28, 2006AND
STILL GROWING

Ever wonder what it is that the TV
Announcers and other people are referring to when they are talking
football? Learn all the football and NFL lingo here.

TIP:
Use your
Browsers "Edit" and "Find in This Page" feature
to quickly search a word.

If you take a look at the
illustration on the right, you will see a diagram outlining the 3-4
defense. The Os in the diagram represent offensive players while
the Xs represent the placement of the defensive players.

You have two defensive ends (DE),
one on each end of the line, and one nose tackle
(NT) in between. Right behind the defensive line are four linebackers
(LB). At times, one or more of the linebackers will line up on the line
of scrimmage.

Two cornerbacks (CB),
one on each side of the field, line up to cover the wide
receivers. There are also two safeties. The exact positioning of
the defensive backs (cornerbacks and
safeties) depends on the type of pass coverage they are in.

3-4 EAGLES DEFENSE

The 3-4 Eagle defense evolved from
Buddy Ryan's 46 defense and Fritz Shurmur first unveiled it with the
Los Angeles Rams in the early 1980s. The alignment is basically the
same as a normal 3-4, but a linebacker is
inserted in the nose tackle's spot, leaving
the formation with just two linemen and five linebackers.

If you take a look at the
illustration on the right, you will see a diagram outlining the 3-4
Eagle defense. The Os in the diagram represent offensive players
while the Xs represent the placement of the defensive players.

Two more linebackers line up as
ends, outside the defensive tackles. The
last two linebackers line up behind the defensive line.

Two cornerbacks (CB),
one on each side of the field, line up to cover the wide
receivers. There are also two safeties. The exact positioning of
the defensive backs(cornerbacks and
safeties) depends on the type of pass coverage they are in.

3rd year WR Rule3rd year Wide Reciever Rule (fantasy
football term) There is a common belief among fantasy
football players that most NFL wide receivers do not "break
out" until their third year in the league. Some recent examples
of players who blossomed in their 3rd year: Santana Moss, Chris
Chambers, Steve Smith, and Javon Walker

4-2-5
DEFENSE Consists
of four defensive linemen,
two linebackers,
and five defensive
backs
(two corners,
a free
safety,
and two strong
safeties).
By bringing the strong safeties up close to the line
of scrimmage
they can be used like linebackers to stop the run or as defensive
backs to cover tight ends, slot
receivers,
or pass receiving running
backs. A
common practice with this formation is to blitz the strong safeties
from the outside. When lined up with the strong safeties close to the
line a quarterback may think that the defense
is in a 4-4 and believe there is a mismatch with a linebacker on a wide
receiver
giving the advantage to the defense. Works best if a team has two
strong, fast, and physical strong safeties and a reliable free safety
to play center field.

The 4-3 defense
is a basic defensive formation that is widely used today. The
alignment features four down
lineman and
three linebackers in the front
seven,
thus the name 4-3.

If you take a look at the
illustration on the right, you will see a diagram outlining the 4-3
defense. The Os in the diagram represent offensive players while the
Xs represent the placement of the defensive players.

Notice the lowest row of Xs on the line
of scrimmage (imaginary line seperating the offense
and defense). You have two
defensive ends (DE), one on each end of the line, and two defensive
tackles (DT) in between. Right behind the defensive line are
three linebackers (LB).

If you take a look at
the illustration on the right, you will see a diagram outlining the
4-4 defense. The Os in the diagram represent offensive players while
the Xs represent the placement of the defensive players.

Notice the lowest row
of Xs near the line
of scrimmage(imaginary
line seperating the offense
and defense).
You have two defensive ends (DE), one on each end of the line, and
two defensive
tackles
(DT) in between. Spread out behind the defensive line are the four
linebackers (LB).

The exact position of
the defensive
backs
(cornerbacks and safety) depends on the type of pass coverage they
are in.

4-4-4 DEFENSE
a Infamous defense, coined by coach and
color commentator John Madden when referring to a penalty having 12
men on the field.

4-6 DEFENSE
a (pronounced four-six defense) a defense
with four (4) down linemen and six (6) linebackers

46 DEFENSE

(pronounced forty-six defense) a
formation of the 4-3 defense (four linemen and three linebackers)
in which three defensive backs(the two cornerbacks
and the strong safety) crowd the line
of scrimmage. The remaining safety, which is the free
safety, stays in the backfield. It is also known as the
"Bear" defense because it was popularized by Buddy Ryan
while coaching for the Chicago Bears.

The 46 Defense designed by
Buddy Ryan at the Chicago Bears and named after the jersey number of
Doug Plank, generally it has more than the normal number of pass
rushers and the pass defenders are in man pass coverage

If you take a look at
the illustration on the right, you will see a diagram outlining the
5-2 defense. The Os in the diagram represent offensive players while
the Xs represent the placement of the defensive players.

Notice the lowest row
of Xs near the line
of scrimmage (imaginary
line seperating the offense
and defense).
You have two defensive ends (DE), one on each end of the line, and
three defensive
tackles
(DT) in between. Behind the defensive line are two linebackers (LB).

The exact position of
the defensive
backs
(cornerbacks and safeties) depends on the type of pass coverage they
are in.

6-1DEFENSE

The 6-1 defense is a
variation of the 4-3 formation. The alignment features four downed
linemen
and three linebackers
in the front
seven,
but two linebackers move up on the defensive line, putting a total of
six defenders on the line.

If you take a look at
the illustration on the right, you will see a diagram outlining the
6-1 defense. The Os in the diagram represent offensive players while
the Xs represent the placement of the defensive players.

Notice the lowest row
of Xs on the line
of scrimmage (imaginary
line seperating the offense
and defense).
You have two defensive
tackles
(DT) in the middle of the line and two defensive ends (DE) ligned up
just outside of the tackles. The outside linebackers move up so they
are lined up on the outside of the defensive ends. The third
linebacker lines up behind the line.

Two cornerbacks (CB),
one on each side of the field, line up to cover the wide
receivers.
There are also two safeties. The exact position of the defensive
backs
(cornerbacks and safeties) depends on the type of pass coverage they
are in.

ACEFORMATION(also
known as the "Lone Setback" or "Single Back"
formation or "Oneback" or "Solo"):
Consists of 1 running back lined up about
five yards behind the quarterback. This formation
can either have four wide receivers,
three wide receivers and a tight end, two
wide receivers and two tight ends, one wide receiver and three tight
ends, or four tight ends (the latter two are very rare). This
formation is good for passing, but is also good for running if a team
has an athletic running back.

A typical Single set back
formation, many variables can be implemented, but this is the basic
setup teams use

This formation has gained
popularity in the NFL as teams have started trading out a fullback,
or blocking back, in favor of another wide receiver or tight end who
is usually faster and better able to receive the ball, while still
helping the run game with down-field blocks. The effectiveness of the
formation is further increased if the team has athletic tight ends
with good hands, thereby increasing the versatility of the formation.
It is, moreover, good for bootlegs and reverses.

Single-back offenses have gained
popularity due to zone blocking and advanced defenses. There are
several combinations of single back formations that are used in
Division 1 and NFL football. Speed offenses will use single back
because the defense still has to respect the run out of these
formations since you can line up many tight ends and still have a
down field running game. Single back offenses create match-up
problems in the defense. Linebackers will often have to cover
receivers in passing routes while defensive safeties are used more to
come up and stop the run on the line of scrimmage. Teams that run a
single-back offense typically rely on quick receivers that run great
routes, balanced tight ends (blocking/receiving), intelligent, shifty
running backs, fast and intelligent offensive lineman, and a
quarterback that can read defenses and make safe throws under
pressure. Single-back offenses are more common in the NFL than in
college or high school.

ADJUSTMENT
change in the approach of a team or player during a game as a result
of less than satisfactory success with the original approach; also
changing defensive alignment in response to offensive shifts or
motions; the ability to make during-game adjustments is a must for
all football coaches; many who do well in the first half but not the
second are manifesting an inability to make appropriate adjustments definition

The AFC currently consists of 16
teams, organized into four divisions (North, South, East, and West)
of four teams each. Each team plays the other teams in their division
twice (home & away) during the regular season in addition to 10
other games/teams assigned to their schedule by the NFL the previous
May. Two of these games are assigned on the basis of the team's final
record in the previous season. The remaining 8 games are split
between the roster of two other NFL divisions. This assignment shifts
each year. For instance, in the 2005 regular season, each team in the
NFC East will play a game apiece against each team in both the AFC
West and the NFC West. In this way division competition consists of
common opponents, with the exception of the 2 games assigned on the
strength of each team's prior season record. The NFC operates
according to the same system.

At the end of each football season,
there are playoff games involving the top six
teams in the AFC (the four division champions by place standing and
the top two remaining non-division-champion teams ("wildcards")
by record). The last two teams remaining play in the AFC
Championship game with the winner receiving the Lamar Hunt Trophy.
The AFC champion plays the NFC champion in the Super
Bowl.

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
The AFC Championship Game is an American football
game played every year to determine the champion of the American
Football Conference (AFC) of the National Football League (NFL). The
winner receives the Lamar Hunt Trophy and
advances to face the winner of the NFC
Championship Game in the Super Bowl.

It began in 1970 after the merger
between the NFL and the American Football League. The AFC was formed
by joining the 10 former AFL teams with 3 NFL teams: the
then-Baltimore Colts, the Cleveland Browns, and
the Pittsburgh Steelers.

At the end of each football season,
a series of playoff games involving the top six teams in the AFC are
conducted, consisting of the four division champions and two wild
card teams. The two teams remaining play in the AFC Championship game.

AGAINST THE GRAIN
superfluous description of the direction a ball
carrier goes when he cuts back to the opposite side from the
side he was originally running toward as in, "he cut back
against the grain"

AGILLITIESshort for agility drills; drills commonly used by
position coaches during the 10- to 20-minute position-coach period at
the beginning of most football practices; the theory behind them is
that agility is a desirable football skill and agility drills make
players more agile; I do not believe the drills make players better
at football to any significant degree; rather, they make the players
better at doing the agility drill in question; I would appreciate
hearing about any scientific study that proves any football agility
drill pays a game-day dividend worth the practice time it takes; I
suspect the real reasons for the widespread use of agility drills are
they fill practice time and look footballish, that's the way it's
always been done, the logic that agility drills increase agility
seems correct, a number of companies make and/or sell products for
agility drills and therefore have financial incentive to encourage
belief in their efficacy, many coaches are afraid to deviate from
football group norms because it increases the probability they will
be blamed for losses; doing the same as every other coach enables
coaches to subtly blame the players for losses, e.g. "someone
needed to make a play but no one did;" I believe that agilities
should never be used and that the practice time saved is far better
spent on learning assignments, blocking techniques, practicing
reading defenders and throwing passes, option reads, and so forth;
carioca is an agility drill, as are running through tires (now ropes
or a ladder), running around large hoops on the ground, etc.; may be
the best you can do at the college level in the off-season when more
productive activities are prohibited by rule

AIR CORYELL
The "Air Coryell" Offense was originated by Don Coryell
and adopted by his assistant coaches including Joe Gibbs, Jim
Hanifan, and Ernie Zampese. The offense features a power running game
similar to that of former University of Southern California head
coach John McKay. What has made this offense popular is the ability
to stretch the field vertically with the passing game and its
numbered pass routes. The Arizona Cardinals, Dallas Cowboys, Detroit
Lions, San Diego Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, Washington Redskins,
and the University of Maryland are among those who run this type of offense.

The Akron Pros were a National
Football League team that played in Akron,
Ohio
from 1920-1925 and as the Akron Indians in 1926.

The team started out in 1916 as the
Akron Burkhardts, named after a local family of brewers that
sponsored the team. As from 1917 the team competed as the Akron Pros.

The Pros became a charter member of
the NFL (then known as the American Professional Football Association)
in 1920 and won the first ever league title.

Fritz Pollard,
the first African-American head coach in the NFL, co-coached the Pros
in 1921. In 1926, the name was changed to the Akron Indians, which
had been an earlier Akron
semi-pro team, but that didn't help. Because of financial problems,
the team suspended operations in 1927 and surrendered its franchise
the following year.

ARC BLOCK
running-back inward block on a defensive contain man or linebacker;
the word "arc" refers to the blocker taking a somewhat
circuitous route to the blocking target, that is, he initially moves
outward then comes back in to make the block; the running
back's path to the block is roughly a half circle; such a path
often causes the defender being blocked to conclude prematurely that
the running back does not plan to block him

ARENA FOOTBALL LEAGUE

The Arena Football League (AFL) was
founded in 1987 as an American football indoor league. The AFL's
attendance has increased dramatically over the last few years, rising
to over 12,400 people per game in 2005. The AFL also maintains a
minor league called arenafootball2.

ARIZONA CARDINALS -
NFC West

The Arizona Cardinals American
football club is a Phoenix, Arizona-based National Football League
team. In 2006, the club will move to the new Cardinals Stadium in the
suburb of Glendale,
Arizona.

The Cardinals
are the oldest existing American football club in the United
States.
The team was formed in 1898 as the Morgan Athletic Club in Chicago,
Illinois.
The club was then called the Racine Normals since they were
originally located on Racine
Avenue
but moved to Chicago's
Normal Field. They then changed their name to the Racine Cardinals
after they started wearing cardinal red uniforms.

After
becoming a charter member of the NFL in 1920, the club was renamed
the Chicago Cardinals.

In 1932, Charles W. Bidwill bought
the Cardinals. The Bidwills still own the team. (Charles' son,
William V. Bidwill, now operates the team.) Bidwill kept the team
going through the Depression and World War II, and finally managed to
put together a winning unit just as the war ended. Bidwill's building
program produced a team that won the NFL championship in 1947. The
Cardinals' 28-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1947
championship game still stands as the team's last playoff victory.

The Cardinals moved to Saint
Louis, Missouri
in 1960, then relocated to the Phoenix
area in 1988. The team was known as the Phoenix Cardinals before it
started using "Arizona"
in its name in 1994.

The Cardinals have won NFL
Championships in 1925 and 1947. But the team has not won a league
title since then, and thus currently holds the record for the longest
championship drought (period of not winning) in NFL history.

ASTAn acronym
for Assisted tackles
usually found in a Teams or Individual Players STAT ReportsNormally in The DEFENSIVE MISC. STATISTICS

ASTROTURF:
an artificial surface used instead of grass. A grass-like playing
surface manufactured from synthetic materials. It is most often used
in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass.

The advantage of AstroTurf turf
over grass turf is quite evident: an artificial turf requires minimal
maintenance. It is also ideal for indoor stadiums, since it does not
require sunlight. However, an AstroTurf surface is much harder than
one of natural grass. Players describe the impact as similar to
falling on concrete (Vince Lombardi called AstroTurf "fuzzy cement").
Players' cleats can get caught in the turf, which does not give the
way grass and dirt does, causing the injury known as "turf toe".

AstroTurf turf is being replaced in
many stadiums with newer types of artificial turf - two common brands
of this new generation being FieldTurf and Sport Grass. These
materials have properties much closer to natural grass turf.
AstroTurf's version of this new artificial grass was called
AstroPlay, but in 2004, Southwest Recreational Industries, who held
the rights to making AstroTurf, went out of business after filing for
bankruptcy. It is now sold by AstroTurf, LLC.

AstroTurf is a registered trademark
of Textile Management Associates, applied to a particular kind of
artificial turf.

AstroTurf turf was invented in 1965
by employees of Monsanto, patented in 1967, and originally sold under
the name "Chemgrass." It was renamed AstroTurf after its
first well-publicised use at the Houston Astrodome stadium.

ATLANTA
FALCONS - NFC South

The Atlanta Falcons American
football club is a National Football League team based in Atlanta,
Georgia.
The Falcons joined the NFL as a 1966 expansion team.

City:
Atlanta,
Georgia

Head Coach:
Jim L. Mora

Team colors:
Home jerseys are red and white with white letters and black trim.
Away jerseys are white with black letters and red trim.

Helmet design:
Black with a black face mask and a red and black falcon logo with a
grey and white border on both sides, which forms the shape of an F.

ATTAn
acronym for Attempts
usually found in a Teams or Individual Players STAT ReportsNormally in The PASSING, RUSHING and/or RETURN STATISTICS

ATTEMPTS usually
found in STAT ReportsNormally in The:PASSING STATISTICS meaning Pass attempts by a QuartebackRUSHING STATISTICS meaning rush attempts or carries by
a RunningbackRETURN STATISTICS meaning Total attempts (kickoffs/punts)

AUCTION DRAFT (fantasy
football term) A type of fantasy draft in which
owners are allotted a certain amount of fantasy cash to fill their
roster spots by bidding on NFL players. Owners take turns introducing
an opening bid for a player.

AUDIBLE:
(from Latin audire = to hear, to listen to)
An audible is a play called by the quarterback at
the line of scrimmage which changes
the play that was previously called in the huddle; a change of plans
in game play, just before the ball goes into play. Also called an automatic.

An audible is often called by the
quarterback when he doesn't like the play call after getting a look
at the defensive formation.

AUTOMATIC FIRST DOWN for
several of the most severe penalties, including pass interference
and all personal fouls, a first down is rewarded
to the offensive team even if the yardage of that penalty is less
than the yardage needed for a first down.

AVERAGE DRAFT POSITION(fantasy football term)
A report that lists NFL players by the position they were drafted in
fantasy football drafts on average. The source can be mock drafts or
real ones. ADP is a useful draft preparation tool.

Make sure the defensive team has no
more than 11 players on the fieldWatch all eligible
receivers on his side of the fieldWatch the area between the umpire
and field judgeRule on the legality of catches and
pass interference penaltiesWatch for clipping on kick returnsOn field goals, stand under the
goalpost and rule on whether the kick is good

In 1953, Carroll Rosenbloom became
the principal owner of the new NFL Baltimore Colts. In 1958, coached
by Hall of Famer Weeb Ewbank and led by Hall of Fame quarterbackJohnny
Unitas, the Colts defeated the New York Giants at Yankee Stadium
23-17 in the NFL championship game, an overtime contest sometimes
called "The
Greatest Game Ever Played."

The original incarnation of the
Baltimore Colts started in the All-America Football Conference in
1946 as the Miami Seahawks. After a 3-11 season, they moved to Baltimore
in 1947. In 1950, they joined the National Football League and
finished the season with a record of 1 11.

Due to financial difficulties after
the 1-11 losing season, Colts owner Abraham Watner gave his team and
its players contracts back to the NFL for $50,000. But many Baltimore
fans protested the loss of their team. Supporting groups such as its
fan club and its marching band remained in operation and worked for
the team's revival. Three years later a new team was given to Baltimore,
which is now known as the Indianapolis
Colts located in Indianapolis,
Indiana.
The supporting groups, including the fan club and a marching band
remained, however, again working to revive a team in Baltimore.
They were ultimately successful and are now part of the Baltimore
Ravens located in Baltimore,
Maryland.

Faced with the aforementioned
competitive difficulties and wanting a new stadium, team owner Robert
Irsay moved the team to Indianapolis
in Mayflower Transit trucks in the middle of the night on March
29, 1984, after
the Maryland
legislature threatened to give the city of Baltimore
the right to seize the team by eminent domain. Since 1987, the Colts
have had mixed success at best. They have appeared in the playoffs
seven years since then, with their best advance to the AFC
championship game in 1995, when they lost to the Pittsburgh
Steelers 20-16, and in 2003, when they won the AFC South
Division title, defeated the Denver Broncos in the wild-card playoff
(41-10), and advanced to play the Kansas City Chiefs in a divisional
playoff, winning 38-31. In the AFC Championship game, they were
decisively defeated 24-14 by the eventual Super Bowl
champions, the New England Patriots, with quarterback Peyton
Manning throwing four interceptions, in a
game which was widely criticized for its minimal officiating (only
seven penalties were called during the entire game, six of them were
pre-snap fouls).

Meanwhile, most of the prominent
old-time former Baltimore Colts players disassociated themselves from
the team, and instead started to attend events of the Baltimore
Ravens team that began play in 1996.

Many Baltimore
fans who are still bitter about the Colts football team moving from Baltimore
to Indianapolis,
Indiana
in 1984, along with many of the Colts' former players, view the
pre-1984 Baltimore Colts organization and the Ravens as one
continuous entity. In fact, the old Colts marching band and fan club
became part of the Ravens organization.

BALTIMORE
RAVENS - AFC North

The Baltimore Ravens American
football club is a National Football League team based in Baltimore,
Maryland.
They have won one Super Bowl title.

The history of the Baltimore Ravens
is unusual due to the unprecedented actions taken by the cities of
Baltimore and Cleveland,
Ohio,
and the NFL in 1996. On November
6, 1995, then-Cleveland
Browns owner Art Modell announced his intention to move the team
to Baltimore,
citing the inadequacy of Cleveland Stadium and the lack of a
sufficient replacement. The decision triggered a flurry of legal
activity that ended when representatives of both cities and the NFL
reached a settlement on February
9, 1996. It
stipulated that the Browns' name, colors, and history of the
franchise were to remain in Cleveland.
A reactivated Cleveland Browns team would then begin play in 1999,
while the relocated club would technically be a new expansion team,
the Ravens.

However, some consider the Ravens
and the pre-1995 Browns organization as one continuous entity, using
the term The Modell Franchise to denote it. Also, many Baltimore
fans who are still bitter about the Colts football team moving from Baltimore
to Indianapolis,
Indiana
in 1984, along with many of the Colts' former players, view the
pre-1984 Baltimore Colts organization
and the Ravens as one continuous entity. In fact, the old Colts
marching band and fan club became part of the Ravens organization.

City: Baltimore,
Maryland

Head Coach:
Brian Billick

Team Colors:
Black, Purple, and Metallic Gold

Uniform colors:
Black, Purple, Metallic Gold, and White. (The primary home uniform is
a purple jersey and white pants. Traditional away gear (also worn at
home during late summer day games, but mostly on the road, are white
jersies and white pants. In 2004, the team introduced an alternate
attire of black jersey and black pants for select prime-time national
game broadcasts.)

Helmet design:
A black helmet with a purple and black raven's head in profile, with
the letter "B" superimposed in metallic gold and white.
Purple "talons" rise up from the facemask up the center of
the helmet.

BASE DEFENSE
defensive alignment used most often by a team; may also have a
personnel dimension to it; often used when the offense
has 1st & 10; their default defense when
they are not sure what to do; other defenses are typically defined by
the coach in question as modifications of the base defense; an
offense that operates at a hurry-up tempo typically hears the
opposing coaches and linebackers yelling
Base! Base! because they do not have time to call a different defense
between plays

BEAN BAG
Used to mark various spots that are not penalties. For example, it
is used to mark the spot of a fumble, or where a player caught a
punt. It's either colored white or blue, depending on the official's
league, college conference, or level of play.

BERT EMANUEL RULE
the ball can touch the ground during a completed pass as long as the
receiver maintains control of the ball

BERTH:
Ample space or distance to avoid an unwanted consequence

Big An
acronym for Big
Plays - usually found in a Teams or
Individual Players STAT Reports

BIG-IBIG I FORMATION places
a tight end on each side of the offensive
line (removing a wide receiver).
Coupled with the fullback's blocking, this allows two additional
blockers for a run in either direction. This is a running-emphasis variant.

A defensive strategy in which a
linebacker or defensive back vacates his normal responsibilities in
order to pressure the quarterback. The object of a blitz is to tackle
the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage
or force the quarterback to hurry his pass.

When a defensive line is having
trouble putting pressure on the quarterback, the defensive
coordinator may decide to help them out by sending one or more
linebackers or defensive backs on a blitz.

The most common blitzes are
linebacker blitzes. Safety blitzes, when a safety
(usually the free safety) is sent, and
corner blitzes, where a cornerback is sent,
are less common. Sending a defensive back on a blitz is even more
risky than a linebacker blitz, as it removes a primary pass defender
from the coverage scheme, but is also less likely to be picked up by
the offensive teams blockers.

History of The BlitzThe name of the play is taken from
the Blitzkrieg, a German strategy of the "lightning war" during
World War II.

Don Ettinger, a defensive
tackles for the New York Giants, invented the blitz during his
brief NFL career (1948 - 1950). Larry Wilson, free safety for the St.
Louis Cardinals from 1960 to 1972, pioneered and perfected the safety
blitz, a play originally code-named "Wildcat". Defensive
coordinator Chuck Drulis is widely credited with inventing the safety blitz.

BLITZ EFFICIENCY Measures the defensive
effectiveness of the blitz. To figure this rating add the number of
sacks, stuffs, poor throws, quarterback knockdowns, batted passes,
passes thrown away, passes caught out of bounds, and passes dropped
as a result of miscommunication between receiver and quarterback
generated by a team's defense, then divide by total number of blitzes.

BLK An
acronym for Blocked
- usually found in a Teams or Individual
Players STAT Reports

BLOCK:
To contact your opponent, with any part of the body. There are
various types of blocks, such as the basic block (which involves
chest to chest contact), the shoulder block (which, obviously,
involves using one's shoulder to contact), the scramble or reach
block (designed to tangle up an oncoming opponent who is playing
outside of your position), and pass blocking (delaying the
oncoming defensive line to allow your quarterback
to act).

BLOCKING a
legal move occurring when one player obstructs another player's path
with his body. The purpose of blocking is typically to clear a path
for the ball carrier, or to protect the
quaterback. The rules of blocking are very complicated and are
frequently changed to favor either the offensive or defensive team.
As a general rule, one is not allowed to grab someone, or hold
themback. Blocking is also not permitted after five yards from the line
of scrimmage until the quaterback has given the ball to the
runner, or a reciever has secured the ball.

BLOCKINGBELOW
THE WAIST', also called a crackback block(15
yards) - an illegal block, from any direction, below the waist
by any offensive player not on the offensive line (e.g. wide
receivers, quarterbacks and running backs),
by any player after change of possession, by any player in high
school with certain exceptions.

Referee signal: both hands brought
down, wrists turned inward, in a chopping motion across the front of
the thighs.

BLOCKINGSLED
a heavy piece of practice equipment, usually a padded angular frame
on metal skids, used for developing strength and blocking techniques

The quarterback can be accompanied
by an offensive lineman to block for him, or run without a blocker,
which is known as a naked bootleg. More complex versions involve
multiple offensive linemen moving with the quarterback to block and
multiple false hand offs; one such variation is known as a rollout.
After escaping the area behind the offensive line, the quarterback
may either throw a pass downfield or run with the ball himself to
gain yards.

A bootleg is called to confuse the defense,
by moving the quarterback away from where they expect him to be,
directly behind the center.
The quarterback's motion may also attract the attention of the defensive
backs, allowing one of the receivers to
become uncovered. The play is typically used by teams with mobile, or
fast, quarterbacks, such as Michael Vick, Steve Young, and Randall Cunningham.

The names comes from the fact that
on a play action the quarterback often hides the ball from the
defense by his thigh to make the run look more convincing. This is
similar to the way bootleggers would hide whiskey in their trousers
during prohibition.

BOWL GAME:
a college football game played in late-December or early-January,
after the regular season, between two successful teams.

In college football, bowl games are
played in leiu of a playoff system such as
the NFL uses. There are numerous bowl games every year, and a
national champion is crowned by matching up the No.1 and No.2 ranked
teams in a championship bowl game.

BPAn
acronym for Blocked
punts - usually found in a
Teams or Individual Players STAT ReportsNormally in The PUNTING
STATISTICS

BRACKET
A Double team scheme to take away a certain receiver.
There are two types of Bracket coverage: High/Low & In/Out.

High/low coverage involves one
defensive player staying between the line of scrimmage and the
receiver, protecting against short passes, and another defender
playing behind the receiver to protect from deep routes.

Skilled personnel can beat this
coverage, however, based on running a route that breaks to the
inside. On an "in" route the receiver makes a near-90
degree turn to the inside of the field and uses his speed to get away
from the underneath defender. A higher-difficulty option is the
"post" or "skinny post" route, which involves a
turn of 30-60 degrees to the inside. The receiver again uses his
speed to separate from the defender playing underneath, and the
quarterback must deliver the ball over this defender and far enough
inside that the defender protecting against deep passes cannot come
down/across the flight path of the ball and deflect or intercept it.
Though the difficulty on this pass is much higher, its success will
gain many more yards.

In/out coverage is a scheme where
one defender protects against routes run to the inside and another
protects against routes to the outside. The easiest way to beat this
coverage is a simple "go"/streak route: the receiver simply
sprints down the field past the defenders. Any hesitation on the
defenders' part to drop their coverage assignment and run with the
streaking receiver can be exploited.

BROOKLYN
LIONS The
Brooklyn Lions was a National Football League team that played in
1926. The team was formed as the league's countermove to the original
American Football League, which also planned to field a team in Brooklyn
called the Brooklyn Horsemen.

In the months before the regular
season began, both leagues battled with each other for fan support
and the right to play at Ebbets Field. The NFL emerged as the winner,
as the Lions signed the lease to use the stadium on July 20.

Neither the Lions or the Horseman
had much success. In fact, both teams merged just after four games
into the regular season. The team finished the NFL season as the
Brooklyn Lions. But both the Lions and the Horsemen folded following
the season.

A play usually run from a wing-t formation that
includes a variety of play fakes. The quarterback takes the snap and
fakes trap to the fullback. He then hands off to a halfback or
wingback, who runs to the outside. The buck sweep is normally blocked
by pulling the playside gaurd to kickout the force defender, and the
backside gaurd pulling and turning up on the playsided linebacker.
This allows for the other linemen to downblock on the other
defenders, giving the offense an advantage when it comes to blocking
angles. The buck sweep also provides an advantage in the
possibilities off of its action, with the fullback trap before the
sweep, the waggle pass or bootleg after it, and the sweep itself.

The Buffalo Bills American football
club is a Buffalo, New York-based National Football League team which
plays its home games in the suburb of OrchardPark.
The team began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American
Football League and joined the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL Merger.

The Bills won two consecutive AFL
titles in 1964 and 1965. The club is also the first team to appear in
four consecutive Super Bowls, but they lost
all of them.

BUMP AND RUN:
a technique often used by defensive backs, pass defenders,
where they hit a receiver once within 5 yards
(1 yard in college) of the line of scrimmage
to slow him down, in which a defensive player will line up directly
in front of a wide receiver and try to "bump" them with
their arms in order to disrupt their intended route and then follow
him to prevent him from catching a pass.

This varies from the more
traditional defensive formation in which a defensive player will give
the receiver a "cushion" of about 5 yards in order to
prevent the receiver from getting behind them. This tactic is
possible because of the rule allowing defensive players to initiate
contact within five yards of the line of scrimmage

BUST(fantasy
football term) A player, usually drafted in the
first three rounds of a fantasy draft, who is predicted to have a
poor season. The player might be injury-prone, have a future star
behind them in the depth chart, or just won't be able to live up to
their hype

BUTTONHOOK:
A pass route in which the receiver heads
straight downfield, then abruptly turns back toward the line
of scrimmage.

For a buttonhook to be effective,
the receiver must convince the defensive back
covering him that he is going to continue his pattern downfield.

BYE WEEK Each NFL team plays
16 games out of 17 weeks in the NFL schedule. The game that they
don't play is called their bye week.

CANTON
BULLDOGS The
Canton Bulldogs played in Canton,
Ohio
in the National Football League from 1920 - 1923 and 1925 - 1926. In
1924, the owner of a team in Cleveland
bought the team and "mothballed" it, while taking the team
nickname and players to Cleveland
for the season. But the NFL considers the 1925-1926 Canton Bulldogs
to be the same team as the 1920-1923 team.

Jim Thorpe
was Canton's
best player. The team won the 1922 and 1923 NFL titles. As a result
of the Bulldogs early success, the Pro Football Hall of Fame is
located in Canton.

The Carolina Panthers American
football club is a National Football League team based in Charlotte,
North Carolina.
The Panthers, along with the Jacksonville Jaguars, joined the NFL as
1995 expansion teams.

CARR, JOSEPH Joseph
F. Carr (October 22, 1880 - May 20, 1939) was an early figure in
professional football. Carr was born in Columbus,
Ohio.
He founded the Columbus Panhandles football team in 1904. He helped
create the American Professional Football Association (APFA) in 1920
- this league would be renamed the National Football League in 1922.
Carr served as NFL president from 1921 until his death in 1939. He
was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963. Relatives
following his footsteps in sports include Kimberly Carr-Cavallo,
President, Founder & League Commissioner of the United States
Women's Polo Federation, the U.S.'s 16-team pro polo equestrian
sports league.

Preceded by: Jim
ThorpePresident of the National
Football League 1921-1939|Succeeded by: Carl
Storck

After snapping the football, the
center must be ready to block the defensive linemen.

The center is at the center of the
offensive line, and it is the center who snaps the ball between his
legs to the quarterback at the start of each play. On most plays, the
center will snap the ball directly to the quarterback's hands. In a shotgun
formation, the center snaps the ball to the quarterback lined up
several yards behind him. Before the snap, the center will often be
responsible for making calls to adjust the blocking assignments of
all the offensive linemen. After the snap, the center must block
defensive players from reaching the ball carrier
(on running plays) or the quarterback (on passing plays). On passing
plays in particular, the center often must block blitzing defensive
players. In special teams situations, the center is referred to as a
"long snapper," who snaps the ball with two hands to a
punter standing approximately 12-14 yards behind him, or to the
holder for the placekicker, kneeling approximately 7 yards behind
him. These long snappers are often players particularly talented at
performing these snaps, and are not necessarily the same center used
on other plays. In fact, professional football teams may carry a
player on their roster for the sole or primary purpose of long snapping.

The Center for The Indianapolis
Colts is Jeff Saturday

CHAIN CREW:
Assistants to the officials whose job is to
mark where a team begins a series and how far
they need to go to get a first down.

The chain gang brings the
chains onto the field for measurements on plays that end too close to
the first down for the officials to make a determination by simply
comparing the spot of the ball with the marker on the sideline. The
chains are brought out to give an exact measurement from the spot
where the series started.

The Chain Crew are assistants to
the referee who handle the first down measuring chain and the down
indicator box. The members of the chain crew who operate the
measuring chain are called rod men and the person who works the down
indicator box is called the box man.

The down indicator box is a pole
with a sign indicating what the current down is. Before every play
from scrimmage, it is placed on the sideline to mark the current line
of scrimmage.

The first down measuring chain is
used to measure the yards that the offensive team needs to gain a
first down. It is a 10-yard metal chain with poles attached to each
end. The poles, usually called "the sticks", are almost
always covered in bright orange padding.

When a team gains a first down, one
of the rod men places one end of the chain on the sideline parallel
to the spot of the ball. The other rod man then stretches the chain
out to mark the first down line. To ensure an accurate measurement, a
clip is usually attached to the chain on the closest 5-yard mark on
the field.

The chains will be brought directly
onto the field whenever the referee needs an accurate measurement to
determine if a first down has been made. A team may also request an
accurate measurement to determine how far they have to reach for the
first down.

For professional and college
football games, an auxiliary chain crew operates on the opposite side
of the field. Here, another "stick" and down indicator box
is used so that players and officials can also look at the other side
of the field to know where the first down line and the line of
scrimmage is, respectively. The auxiliary chain crew also includes
the drive start indicator, which is placed at the beginning of a
team's drive and stays there until they lose possession. This
indicator is only used for statistical purposes to calculate the
distance of each drive. It looks similar to a "stick", but
it has an arrow that points in the direction to where the offensive
team is going.

Members of the chain crew are
usually picked by the offices of the home team instead of the league
or conference that they play in.

Brilliant in the backfield,
exceptional at end - that is a simple summary of Guy Chamberlin's
talents. He was born January
16, 1894, in Blue
Springs, Nebraska.
He played halfback for Nebraska Wesleyan in 1911-12, and helped the
team to 7-0 and 5-2-1
records. He transferred to the University
of Nebraska.
The team was 7-0-1 in 1914 with Chamberlin at halfback scoring on
runs of 90, 85, 70 and 58 yards.

He was
moved to end in 1915, and made All-America as Nebraska
moved to an 8-0 record. The Cornhuskers beat Notre Dame 20-19. Knute
Rockne, then a Notre Dame assistant coach, called Chamberlin the key
to Nebraskas
victory. For his final college game, November
20, 1915, he
moved back to halfback and scored five touchdowns in a 52-7 romp over Iowa.

Born: Jan.
16, 1894, Blue
Springs, NEDied: April
4, 1967

He was elected to the College
Football Hall of Fame in 1962,and to the Pro Football Hall of
Fame in 1965.

He served in World War I and
then played pro football for eight years, from 1920-27. George Halas
called him the greatest two-way end in the history of the game. He
stood 6- 1, weighed 200, and was outstanding on offense
and defense. For six of his pro years he was player-coach.

He went
back to Nebraska,
ran a farm, and was state livestock inspector. Chamberlin died April
4, 1967. In that
year the University
of Nebraska
founded the Chamberlin Trophy, given annually to the outstanding
senior football player.

CHAMBERLIN TROPHY
given annually to the outstanding senior football player. Founded
after Guy Chamberlin.

CHEAP SHOT:
A deliberate foul or other violent act against an unsuspecting player.

CHEAT SHEET(fantasy
football term)
A drafting tool that lists NFL players ranked in order of predicted
fantasy points; however there are no accompanying stats, so it is
possible that it isn't accurate for a league's scoring system

CHECK OFF:
Changing a play at the line of scrimmage
by calling out a predetermined set of signals.

CHEERLEADER:
a performer who makes the crowd cheer: a member of a group of
uniformed performers who encourage the crowd to support a team at
sports events

Cheerleading is an activity that
uses organized routines made up of elements from dance and/or
gymnastics to cheer on sports teams at games and matches, and/or as a
competitive sport.

Cheerleaders are present at all NFL
Professional Football games, each team has its own set of
cheerleaders who dance, cheer and spur the crowd on. But Cheerleading
is not restricted to American Football in fact Cheerleading is a
recognized sport of its own. Its beginnings though are by no means as
glamorous a spectacle as they are today.

The Chicago Bears American football
club is a National Football League team based in Chicago,
Illinois.
The club began play in 1919 and became a charter member of the NFL
in 1920.

The Bears have won 9 total league
titles, including 8 NFL Championships and Super Bowl XX. They have
played in over 1,000 games and currently lead the NFL in overall
franchise wins with over 660. The Bears also lead the league in the
number of Pro Football Hall of Fame players with 26 enshrinees.

Offensive linemen often try
to cut defensive linemen by using chop blocks.

CHUCK and DUCK a
style of offense with minimal pass protection
requiring the quarterback to "chuck" the
ball then "duck" to avoid a defensive lineman.

CHUCKING:
Warding off an opponent who is in front of a defender by contacting
him with a quick extension of arm or arms, followed by the return of arm(s)
to a flexed position, thereby breaking the original contact.

Stiff arm

CINCINNATI
BENGALS - AFC North

The Cincinnati Bengals American
football club is a National Football League team based in Cincinnati,
Ohio.
The Bengals began play in the American Football League as a 1968
expansion team, and joined the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL Merger.

The most commonly recognized
contribution comes from the "Ickey Shuffle", a celebratory
dance created by Bengals running back
Ickey Woods in his rookie season of 1988 during the Bengals' Super
Bowl run. This dance, done after Woods would score a touchdown, was
the catalyst for the NFL instituting penalties against excessive
celebratory performances (resulting in the backronym "No
Fun League"), and before the
1989 season was over it was relegated to the sidelines.

CLEAVLAND BROWNS -
AFC North

The Cleveland Browns American
football club is a National Football League team based in Cleveland,
Ohio.
The Browns began play in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America
Football Conference and joined the NFL in 1950 after the AAFC merged
into the older league. The team has won 4 AAFC titles and 4 NFL Championships.

In some accounts, there may be
confusion regarding the team's history due to unusual and
unprecedented actions taken by the cities of Cleveland, Baltimore,
Maryland
and the NFL in 1996. On November
6, 1995,
then-Browns owner Art Modell announced his intention to move the team
to Baltimore,
citing the inadequacy of Cleveland Stadium and the lack of a
sufficient replacement. The decision triggered a flurry of legal
activity that ended when representatives of both cities and the NFL
reached a settlement on February
9, 1996. It
stipulated that the Browns' name, colors, and history of the
franchise were to remain in Cleveland.
A reactivated Cleveland Browns team would then begin play in 1999,
while the relocated club would technically be a new expansion team,
the Baltimore Ravens.

For that reason, past records and
Pro Football Hall of Fame players are attributed to the Browns and
not to the Ravens. However, some consider the Ravens and the pre-1995
Browns organization as one continuous entity, using the term The
Modell Franchise to denote it.

Team owner Art Modell complained that he wanted a new stadium in the
late 1980s. Cleveland City Council offered Modell an indoor stadium
that would seat 68,000. Modell was upset that the new stadium would
be too small, so he decided to put his own money into renovation of
the old Cleveland Stadium. After seeing new stadiums built for other
major teams, after years of complaining that a new stadium would be
necessary to sustain the viability of the franchise, and despite
years of sellouts and profitability, in November 1995, Modell
announced he would relocate the Browns to Baltimore,
Maryland for 1996.

The announcement was met with unprecedented resistance from Browns
fans, with over 100 lawsuits filed by fans, the city of Cleveland,
and a host of others. Virtually all of the team's sponsors
immediately pulled their support, leaving Cleveland Stadium devoid of
advertising during the team's final weeks. Modell was forced to
resign from the membership (and in many cases, leadership positions)
of local civic and charitable organizations, and would literally be
forced to leave the city - never to return.

The 1995 season was a disaster on the field, too. After starting 3-1,
the rumors and eventual announcement cast a pall on the team, who
finished 5-11. When fans in the Dawg Pound became rowdy during their
final home game against the Cincinnati Bengals, action moving towards
that end zone had to be moved to the opposite end of the field.

In early 1996, the National Football League announced that the team
would be 'deactivated' for three years, and that a new stadium would
be built for a new Cleveland Browns team that would begin play in
1999. Modell would in turn be granted a new franchise for Baltimore,
the Baltimore Ravens, and the Browns' history, records, awards and
archives would remain in Cleveland,
to be given to the new franchise when restored.

City:
Cleveland,
Ohio

Head Coach:
Romeo Crennel

Team Colors:
Brown, Orange,
and White

Uniform colors: Brown
(officially "Seal Brown") and Orange

Helmet design:
Orange
helmet with brown and white center stripe. No logo(for one preseason game in
1965 the initials "CB" in brown appeared on each side).

CLEVELANDBULLDOGS
The Cleveland Bulldogs was a team that played in Cleveland,
Ohio
in the National Football League. They were called the Indians
in 1923. The team's owner bought the defending NFL champions Canton
Bulldogs. He "mothballed" the Canton
team and took its players and name to Cleveland
in 1924 and won the NFL championship. In 1925 owner Sam Deustch, sold
the Canton
franchise to local owners, and sold his club to Herb Brandt. The Canton-less
Bulldogs fell to a dismal 5-8-1.
Brandt received authority from the league to suspend operations for
a year. They returned in 1927, bolstered by players from the folded Kansas
City franchise. However, the front office success didn't match
the play on the field, and the team folded.

CLEVELAND INDIANS
The Cleveland Indians was the name of three separate National
Football League teams from Cleveland,
Ohio.
They played in the 1921 (formerly the Tigers), 1923 (from 1924-25,
and 1927 called the Bulldogs) and 1931 seasons.

The 1931 team was a
league-sponsored club that only played games on the road. The NFL
intended to locate this team permanently in Cleveland,
but when no suitable owner was found it folded after one season.

CLIPCLIPPING:
Throwing the body across the back of an opponent's leg or hitting
him from the back below the waist while moving up from behind unless
the opponent is a runner or the action is in close line play.

Referee signal: hand striking the
back of the leg.

Clipping is a foul, with a 15-yard
penalty.

CLOSED FACE MASK
The closed cage usually is the choice of linesmen because the closed
cagevertical bar running the length of the mask over the nose with
two, three, or four horizontal bars - helps to keep other players'
fingers and hands out of their eyes. In the 1970s, vinyl coating was
layered onto the bars to protect against chipping and abrasions.

Soon, colors were added to the face
masks as another way to distinguish players and teams.See Facemask

CLOTHESLINE:
A foul. To clothesline is to strike another player across the face
with one's extended arm.

CLOSE LINE PLAY:
The area between the positions normally occupied by the offensive
tackles, extending three yards on each side of the line
of scrimmage.

CLUTH
In American sports terminology, "clutch"
means performing well under extreme pressure. It often refers to high
levels of production in a critical game such as an NFL
Playoff Game. Being "clutch" is often (perhaps
erroneously) seen by sportswriters and fans as an innate skill
to be possessed

CM(also COM, COMP)
An acronym for Completions
- usually found in a Teams or Individual Players STAT ReportsNormally in The PASSING STATISTICS

COACH:
The trainer of the team who also formulates offensive and defensive
strategy. In professional football there is a head coach assisted by
several other coaches specializing in certain areas of training, such
as offense, defense,
strength training, etc.

COFFIN CORNER:
One of the four corners of the field.

a punter may try to place the ball
so that it lands and goes out of bounds, or is downed, near a corner
of the playing field just in front of the end zone, thus forcing
difficult field position for the receiving team on their next
scrimmage. By extension from the real-life usage of the term
described above, the corner the punter is aiming for in that
situation is sometimes called the "coffin corner", for if
the kick is only slightly too far in either direction (out of
bounds or into the end zone) a touchback is awarded the ball will
be placed on the twenty yard line, losing the advantage that comes
with a successful execution of the kick.

COIN TOSS:

Before the start of the game, the quarterback
of the visiting team calls heads or tails of a coin flipped by the referee.
The winning team kicks off; the loser chooses which goal
to defend.

The game begins with a kickoff,
which is one type of free kick. Prior to the game, captains from
each team participate in a coin toss. The winner of the toss may make
one of four choices: to kickoff, to receive and have the other team
kickoff, to choose to defend one end of the field, or to choose to
defend the other end. The toss winner nearly always chooses to
receive; the other team then may choose from the remaining options,
usually choosing which end of the field to defend. In amateur
football, the winner of the toss may also defer their choice to the
second half and give the other team first choice of options in the
first half. This is typically done when the captain winning the toss
wants to receive to start the second half.

A kickoff is also used to start the
second half of the game. The team who did not get first choice at the
coin toss now chooses; likewise, they nearly always choose to
receive. Kickoffs also take place after each touchdown and field
goal, with the scoring team kicking off.

COM(also
CM, COMP) An acronym for Completions
- usually found in a Teams or Individual Players STAT ReportsNormally in The PASSING STATISTICS

COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD
The NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award has been given out after
every season since 1972, except for 1985 when no winner was selected.
The player named Comeback Player of the Year shows perseverance in
overcoming adversity, in the form of not being in the NFL the
previous year, a severe injury, or simply poor performance.

COMP An acronym
for Completions usually found in a
Teams or Individual Players STAT ReportsNormally in The PASSING STATISTICS

COMPLETE PASS:
a forward pass to a teammate who catches it in the air. A legally
caught pass.

CONTACT SPORT:
Any sport involving physical contact between players. Football is a
contact sport, as are hockey, boxing, and soccer.

CONTROLLING THE GAME CLOCKCONTROLLING THE PLAY CLOCKCONTROLLING THE TIME CLOCK:
the use of tactics by an offensive team to either save or use up
time on the game clock, which often dictates its choice of plays.

CONVERSION
First, it is used to describe when the offensive term advances the
ball beyond the "first down"
marker during a series of downs. When the offense
does this they are allotted a new set of downs (it is considered
first down again). Secondly, after the offense has scored a touchdown,
they will try to score an extra point(also
called extra point conversion).

(1898-1970), American
football player, coach, and team owner, whose career included two
National Football League (NFL) championships

Pro Football Hall of Fame

While Jimmy Conzelman was a success
at most of his endeavors, which included stints as a newspaper
publisher, playwright, author, orator, and actor, it was primarily as
a football player and coach that he excelled.

A halfback at WashingtonUniversity
in St. Louis,
he began his post-college career as a member of the Great Lakes Navy
team that won the 1919 Rose Bowl. One of his Great
Lakes teammates
was George Halas, who recruited him for his 1920 Decatur Staleys team
in the newly formed American Professional Football Association, which
later changed its name to the National Football League.

After one season with the Staleys,
Conzelman moved on to the Rock Island Independents where he began his
career as a player-coach. He stayed with the Independents through
seven games of the 1922 season before jumping to the Milwaukee
Badgers for the remainder of the season and the 1923 season. Offered
an NFL franchise in Detroit
in 1925 for a reported $100 investment, Conzelman became an NFL
owner. Although the team was fairly successful on the field (8-2-2
in 1925 and 4-6-2
in 1926) the team received little support from the MotorCity fans.

Eventually he returned the
franchise back to the league and in 1927 joined the Providence Steam
Roller as the player-coach. Quarterback Conzelman suffered a knee
injury in 1928, but coach Conzelman led the team to an 8-1-2
record and the NFL title. Conzelman left Providence
in 1930 wanting to try his hand at other careers. But, in 1940, the
popular Irishman was lured back into the NFL with the Chicago
Cardinals. He helped the team stay strong during the challenging
World War II years before leaving to work in major league baseball.
In 1946, Conzelman returned to the Cardinals. The following year his
Cards won the NFL title and in 1948 a second straight division title
but lost 7-0 to the Philadelphia Eagles in the title game.

Conzelman retired after that season
with an overall professional record of 82 wins, 69 losses, and 14 ties.

CORNER ROUTE(an
offensive play) a pattern run by a receiver in
American Football, where the receiver runs up the field at
approximately a 45 degree angle, heading away from the quarterback
towards the sideline. Usually, the pass is used when the defensive
back is playing towards the inside shoulder of the receiver, thus
creating a one on one vertical matchup. The corner route is less
likely to be intercepted when compared to the slant route, because it
is thrown away from the middle of the field. The pass is used
frequently in the West Coast offensive scheme, where quick, accurate
throwing is key.

CORNERBACK:
(CB or DB) (also referred to as a corner)
A defensive player who generally lines up on the outside of the
formation and is usually assigned to cover a wide
receiver.

A defensive backfield
player, almost as deep into the backfield as
the safety. There are two cornerbacks. Their job is to tackle runners
and intercept passes.

Either one of the two defensive
backs who plays behind and to the outside of the linebackers,
and whose duties include defending against passes and stopping
running plays to the outside.

A position in football, more
broadly classified as a defensive back. As this suggests, he is
indeed a defensive player. The modern cornerback is ideally very
fast, agile, and has good football instinct. Like any defensive
player, he must be able to react faster than his opponent, since he
does not have the benefit of knowing where a play is going to go.
Essential skills for a cornerback include backpedaling, jumping,
staying with his man, anticipating a pass route and reading the quarterback.

Most defensive
formations in modern pro football use 4 defensive backs. Two of
these are safeties, and two of them are corners. A corner's
responsibilities vary depending on the type of coverage called.
Coverage is simply how the defense will be
protecting against the pass. A corner will be given one of two ways
to defend the pass (with variations that result in more or less the
same responsibilities): zone and man-to-man. In zone coverage, the
cornerback is responsible for an area on the field. In this case, the
corner must always stay downfield of whoever it is covering while
still remaining in its zone, always between the sideline and the
opposing player. Zone is a more relaxed defensive scheme meant to
provide more awareness across the defensive secondary while
sacrificing tight coverage. As such, the corner in this case would be
responsible for making sure nobody gets outside of him, always, or
downfield of him, in cases where there is no deep safety help. In man
coverage, however, the cornerback is solely responsible for the man
across from him, usually the offensive player split farthest out.

Jersey
Numbers: 20 - 49

COUNT
The offensive count is the numbers, signals
and a specific cadence that the Quarterback shouts
signaling for the center to hike
the ball to initiate a play. Sometimes the Quarterback will
shout a long count, with many signals in an attempt to confuse or
draw the defense to off sides

COUNTER (an
offensive play) a
running play in which the running back
will take a step in the apparent direction of the play (ie, the
direction the line is moving), only to get the handoff in the
other direction. Weak side linemen will sometimes pull and lead the
back downfield (sometimes called a counter trap), but not
necessarily. The play is designed to get the defense
to flow away from the action for a few steps as they follow the
linemen, allowing more room for the running back.

This play is designed for the
offensive team to feign rushing one way, then attacking the defense
in the opposite direction. In a counter trey right, the center, right
guard, and right tackle block left as if the play is going left. The
left guard and left tackle "pull" from their positions by
moving behind the other linemen and around the right corner.

The running back takes an initial
feint step to the left, then cuts back to the right, receives the
handoff from the quarterback, and follows behind the pulling left
guard and left tackle. The left guard and left tackle will usually be
blocking smaller linebackers and defensive backs downfield--this
mismatch favors the offense. The counter trey requires quick,
athletic linemen for good execution.

Many teams have run this play, but
it first became well-known when run by the Washington
Redskins in the 1980s. In particular, guard Russ Grimm and
tackle Joe Jacoby would open up massive holes for John Riggins,
George Rogers, and Earnest Byner.

COVER:
To defend a position or location on the field. Preventing a player
from gaining yards; in pass coverage, a defender follows a receiver
to prevent him from catching a pass; in kick coverage, members of the
kicking team try to prevent a long kick return.

COVER 0COVERZERO
Strict man-to-man coverage with no help from safeties (usually a
blitz play with at least five men crossing the line of scrimmage)

Cover 0 refers to pure man coverage
with no deep defender. Similar to Cover 1, Cover 0 has the same
strengths and weaknesses.COVER 1COVER ONE Man-to-man
coverage with at least one safety not assigned a player to cover who
can help out on deep pass routes.

Cover 1 schemes employ only one
deep defender, usually a safety. Many underneath coverages paired
with Cover 1 shells are strictly man-to-man with LBs and defensive
backs each assigned a different offensive player to cover. By using
only one deep defender in Cover 1, the other deep defender is free to
blitz the quarterback or provide man-to-man pass coverage help.

Cover 1 schemes are usually very
aggressive, preferring to proactively disrupt the offense by giving
the quarterback little time to make a decision while collapsing the
pocket quickly. This is the main advantage of Cover 1 schemes--the
ability to blitz from various pre-snap formations while engaging in
complex man-to-man coverage schemes post-snap. For example, a safety
may blitz while a CB is locked in man coverage with a WR. Or the CB
may blitz with the safety rotating into man coverage on the WR post-snap.

The main weakness of Cover 1
schemes is the lone deep defender that must cover a large amount of
field and provide help on any deep threats. Offenses can attack Cover
1 schemes with a vertical stretch by sending two receivers on deep
routes, provided that the quarterback has enough time for his
receivers to get open. The deep defender must decide which receiver
to help out on, leaving the other in man coverage which may be a mismatch.

A secondary weakness is inherent
its design: the use of man coverage opens up yards after catch lanes.
Man coverage is attacked by offenses in various ways that try to
isolate their best athletes on defenders by passing them the ball
quickly before the defender can react or designing plays that clear
defenders from certain areas thus opening yards after catch lanes.

COVER 2COVER TWO DEFENSE

Cover Two zone scheme known as Tampa
Two, so named because it took hold with coach Tony
Dungy'sTampa Bay Buccaneers of the
late 1990s and early 2000s. It has become the most popular defense in
the NFL, a bend-but-don't-break scheme that forces offenses to
execute down the length of the field five yards at a time.

The entire concept of the Cover 2
is to make it hard to pass on you. The name comes from the position
of the safeties, who both play deep zone coverage.
In this normally 4-3 coverage scheme,
your safeties play further back, while your linebackers
and cornerbacks play zone coverage
underneath the safeties. Each person underneath covers about 1/5th
the width of the field for about 7 yards deep. The two safeties split
the field and each cover half against the deep pass.

As Ron Meeks, the Indianapolis
Colts' defensive coordinator states it, "We play with so much
energy and speed. "When the ball is thrown, we're like piranhas.
We're attacking the ball carrier, attacking the receivers, trying to
inflict as much pain and play with as much energy as we can. A lot of
it is an attitude."

That aggressive approach is the
foundation of the Tampa 2, the style of Cover 2
defense made popular by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers under Tony Dungy,
starting in the mid- to late-1990s. Actually, it all started in the
1970s with Bud Carson's Steelers defenses, for whom Dungy played
defensive back. Dungy learned the Cover 2 from Carson.

In Cover 2, two safeties play
zone (area) coverage, each of them responsible for half of the
field. Dungy's Bucs had great success dropping a speedy middle
linebacker (the "Mike") down the middle of the field
to defend the pass, creating a three-deep look, while four often
undersized but quick defensive linemen rushed the passer. And so, the Tampa
2 was born.

So, too, was a trend. Nowadays,
most every defense in the league has some form of the Tampa
2 in its package. But no one is making the Tampa
2 do what it does better than the originators -- Dungy in Indianapolis,
Smith in Chicago and longtime coordinator Monte Kiffin in Tampa.
The Bears and Colts are division champions, and the Bucs a victory
away from making it three-for-three for Tampa
2 teams.

The "Cover 2" is a zone
defense in which every defender is responsible for a specific area of
the field. Instead of playing man to man it's more of a zone type
defense where you defend a certain part of the field.

The two safeties, playing well off
the line of scrimmage, cover the deep passing routes, while also
directing the strategy and of the rest of the defense. Each
additional member of the defense is responsible for a specific area
of the field.

After the play begins by the
opposing Teams Offense, each of the defenders keeps his eyes on the
ball and reacts quickly to it, be it a run or a pass. The Cover 2
scheme works best when out-fitted with high-energy personnel that
excel at responding quickly to the play and attacking the ball. When
executed properly by experienced, skilled personnel, the Cover 2
defense is unbeatable. The Cover 2 defense is thus adaptable to the
myriad formations and schemes brought forth by the competition.

COVER 3COVER THREE Zone
coverage as above, only with extra help from a cornerback, so that
each player covers one-third of a deep zone.

Cover 3 refers to 3 deep defenders
each guarding one-third of the deep zone. Cover 3 schemes are usually
used to defend against passes, mainly those towards the deep middle
of the field. Unlike Cover 2 schemes that create a natural hole
between safeties, Cover 3's extra deep defender is able to patrol the
middle area effectively.

The most basic Cover 3 scheme
involves 2 CBs and a safety. Upon snap, the CBs work for depth,
backpedaling into their assigned zone. One safety moves toward the
center of the field. The other safety is free to rotate into the flat
area (about 2-4 yards beyond the line of scrimmage), provide pass
coverage help, or blitz.

As with other coverage shells,
Cover 3 is paired with underneath man or zone coverage in its most
basic form.

The main weakness of Cover 3 shells
is the 2 retreating CBs. Since the CBs are working for depth, short
pass routes underneath the CB can isolate him on a wide receiver near
the sideline with little help.

COVER 4COVER FOUR As a Cover
3, with the corners and safeties dropping into deep coverage,
with each taking one-fourth of the width of the field. Also referred
to as Quarters.

Cover 4 refers to 4 deep defenders
each guarding one-fourth of the deep zone. Cover 4 schemes are
usually used to defend against deep passes. (See Prevent defense).

The most basic Cover 4 scheme
involves 2 CBs and 2 safeties. Upon snap, the CBs work for depth,
backpedaling into their assigned zone. Both safeties backpedal
towards their assigned zone.

As with other coverage shells,
Cover 4 is paired with underneath man or zone coverage in its most
basic form.

The main weakness of Cover 4 shells
is the retreating defensive backs. Since the DBs are working for
depth, short pass routes underneath can isolate them on a wide
receiver near the sideline with little help.

CRACKBACK Eligible
receivers who take or move to a position more than two yards
outside the tackle may not block an opponent below the waist if they
then move back inside to block.

CRACKBACK BLOCK:
Blocking by an offensive player who goes downfield then turns back
to the middle to block a player from the side.

This is an illegal block by an
offensive player who is usually spread out away from the main body of
the formation and runs back in towards the ball at the snap, blocking
an opponent below the waist or in the back with the force of the
block back toward the original position of the ball at the snap.

An illegal crackback block is penalized
15 yards against the
offending team.

CURLCURL IN:
a pattern run by a receiver, where the receiver looks to be running
a Fly pattern but after a set amount of steps or yards will quickly
stop and turn around, looking for a pass. This generally works best
when the defending corner or safety commits himself to guarding the
fly and is unable to stop quickly enough to defend the pass.

The curl is a pattern used
frequently by the West Coast offensive scheme, where quick and
accurate passes are favored.

CUT:
1.To suddenly change direction to lose a pursuing player.
2. To drop a prospective player from the team roster.

CUT BACK:
a sudden change in direction taken by a to make it more difficult
for defenders to follow and tackle him.

CUT BLOCKING
a blocking technique in which offensive linemen, and sometimes other
blockers, block legally below the waist (i.e., from the front of the
defensive player) in an attempt to bring the defenders to ground,
making them unable to pursue a running
back for the short time
needed for the back to find a gap in the defense.
The technique is somewhat controversial, as it carries a risk of
serious leg injuries to the blocked defenders.

The NFL's Denver Broncos are
especially famous (or infamous) for using this technique.

The Dallas Cowboys American
football club is a Dallas, Texas-based National Football League team
which plays its home games in the suburb of Irving.
The Cowboys joined the NFL as a 1960 expansion team. The team is
sometimes referred to colloquially as America's
Team due to its having a large fanbase that lives outside its
immediate local area (the term itself is derived from the title of
the team's 1979 highlight film).

Uniform colors:
White jerseys have royal blue numbers and lettering; colored jerseys
feature a darker shade of blue as background (similar to that of
the star logo) with white numbers and lettering. By tradition,
and unlike most NFL teams, the Cowboys normally wear their white
jerseys at home (although they may wear their colored jerseys
during special occasions). In the 2003 season, the Cowboys
revived their 1962 throwback uniform (blue jersey with white
sleeves) for special occasions such as Thanksgiving; it was also
worn on September
19, 2005 against
the Washington Redskins.

Year founded: 1960

City:
Irving,
Texas

Helmet design:
Silver background with a blue star(throwback helmet is white with
a blue star)

Team Colors:
Royal Blue, Metallic Silver, Blue, and White

Head Coach:
Bill Parcells

Home field: Texas
Stadium (1971-present)

DAYTON TRIANGLES
Dayton Triangles of the National Football League played from 1920 to
1929. The team was based in Dayton,
Ohio.
The nickname "Triangles" came from the name of TrianglePark,
located at the confluence of the Great Miami and Stillwater
rivers, in north Dayton
where the team played its games. The first game of the American
Professional Football Association, the precursor to the NFL, was
played in TrianglePark
between the Dayton Triangles and the Columbus Panhandles on October
3, 1920. The
Triangles won that game 14-0. The Triangles were sponsored by the
Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co. (Delco), the Dayton Metal
Products Co. (D.M.P. Co.), and the Domestic Engineering Co. (DECO,
later called Delco-Light). The team was sold to a group in Brooklyn,
New York
and became the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1930.

Deacon Jones
David D. "Deacon" Jones (born December
9, 1938
in Eatonville,
Florida)
nicknamed "Secretary of Defense" is an American athlete
and actor. Jones played professional football, and is considered to
be one of the greatest defensive ends of all time. Jones specialized
in quarterback
sacks, a term attributed to him. An extremely durable player, Jones
missed only five games of a possible 196 regular-season encounters in
his 14 NFL seasons. He is also noted for perfecting the so-called
"head slap."

Deacon Jones ruleEnacted in 1977 - The Deacon Jones rule, which eliminated
head slapping. Jones was a master at ringing bells inside the
offensive linemens heads. They say he may have contributed more
concussions to the game than any other player in the entire history
of the NFL. If you dont believe it hurts, put on a helmet, and have
someone slam an open palm against one side, over the ear hole. Youll
be seeing stars for a long time.

DEAD BALL:
A ball that is no longer in play, that is, a ball that is not held
by a player or loose from a kick, fumble, or pass. A ball becomes
dead when a play is over and becomes live as soon as it is snapped
for the next play.

A play from scrimmage ends when the
ball is dead; this occurs when one of the following happens:

the ballcarrier is downeda forward pass falls incomplete;the ball or ballcarrier goes
outside the field of play ("out of bounds")the ball, except on a field goal
attempt, hits any part of the goalpost (even if it bounces back
onto the field);a team scores;a punt receiver makes a fair
catch;a member of the punting team
"downs" a punt by touching the ball before any member of
the receiving team;a punted ball comes to rest; ora touchback occurs.

DECATUR STALEYS
Presently The Chicago Bears, one of the most
storied NFL teams. Since becoming a charter member of the league in
1920, they have played in over 1,000 games. Through the 2004 season,
they led the NFL in overall franchise wins with 660. They were
founded in 1919 by the A.E. Staley Company in Decatur,
originally as the company team, a typical start for several of the
classic NFL franchises. Staley hired George Halas and Edward
"Dutch" Sternaman in 1920 to run the team and turned
control of the team over to them in 1921.

George Halas was hired in
1920 by A. E. Staley of the Staley Manufacturing Co. (whose primary
product was cornstarch) to form both a football and a baseball team
for the company. In order to find opponents, Halas pushed the
football team into the new league that was being formed, the American
Professional Football Association. A severe recession in early 1921
forced Staley to lay off the athletes he had hired; he suggested to
Halas that the football team should move to Chicago,
and said he would provide $5000 to assist in the move if the club
would keep the name "Staleys" for one season. Thus, in
1921, Halas's men were called the Chicago Staleys when they became
the first official league champion. Despite the championship, the
team lost money that first season in Chicago:
about $70. The next year, the franchise was renamed the Bears -- to
accentuate its association with the Cubs, with whom it shared Wrigley
Field (hoping that some of the Cubs' success would rub off: how times
change!) -- while the league was retitled to the National Football
League (at George Halas's suggestion).

Edward "Dutch" Sternaman,
who was Halas's teammate at the University
of Illinois,
was his partner during the early years of the Bears. Staley actually
first approached Sternaman to form his teams; but Sternaman, though
tempted, returned to Illinois
to finish his degree. He joined the Staley company after graduating
and helped Halas to first put the football team together, and later
as co-owner move it to Chicago. Dutch's little brother Joey, another Illinois
grad, became the Bears' first great quarterback
during the '20s. The relationship between Halas and his partner grew
increasingly stormy as the decade progressed, and Sternaman began
devoting ever increasing amounts of time to other business interests.
When the conflicts between the two began hurting the team's success
at the beginning of the Great Depression, Halas bought Sternaman out.

Dutch Sternaman has been
credited with coining the phrase, "When in doubt, punt!"
which he apparently used in a 1924 pre-game pep talk.

Moving to Chicago
was not exactly a sure thing. The city already had a professional
team: the Racine Cardinals -- named for their home field at 61st and Racine
Avenue
on Chicago's
South Side. The city had had two APFA franchises in 1920; the
Cardinals had a nearby rival named the Chicago Tigers. The two teams
hurt each other's attendance; they agreed their season-ending game in
1920 was for the rights to the city. The Cardinals won, and the
Tigers disbanded as they had agreed. Under the circumstances, the
Cardinals couldn't have been happy about Halas's transfer to Chicago
for the 1921 season, but it obviously worked out. Evidently the
Staleys were far enough away in Wrigley Field that they didn't
threaten the Cardinals' financial viability - although the
rivalry that developed between the Bears and Cardinals became in some
ways even more bitter than that with the Packers. Like the Bears and
the league, the Cardinals also changed their name for the 1922
season: they switched to "the Chicago Cardinals" when Racine,
Wis.,
was awarded an NFL franchise.

DEFENSE:
the team that begins a play from scrimmage not in possession of the ball.

The team defending their goal line.
The defense does not have the ball; rather, they attempt to keep the offense
from passing or running the ball over their (the defense's) goal line.

Unlike the offensive team, there
are no formally defined defensive positions. A defensive player may
line up anywhere on his side of the line
of scrimmage and perform any legal action.

DEFENSIVE BACK
: (DB) Any one of the four members of the defensive
backfieldthe two safeties and the two cornerbackswho
are positioned behind the linebackers.
It's the job of the defensive backs to defend against passes and give
support on running plays.

Defensive back is a defensive
position in American and Canadian football. Defensive Backs are
charged with the responsibility of preventing receivers from catching
passes. However, similar to other defensive players, Defensive backs
can also sack the quarterback and tackle running
backs.

It should be noted that
"Defensive Back" is a collective term for several other
positions, which include cornerbacks, as well as Strong and Free
Safeties. Alternately, this term may be referred to as the
"defensive secondary".

While defensive backs must exhibit
superb displays of speed and agility, they are also required to
master the crucial technique of backpedaling, which enables one to
follow a receiver while still focusing on the football. Furthermore,
Defensive backs must be able to analyze an offensive formation before
the play can begin, allowing one to predict intentions of an offense.
A defensive back must also possess the ability to change one's path
while running at whim, enabling a superior "man-to-man"
coverage. Lastly, a defensive back must be capable of voraciously and
accurately tackling offensive units. While these tackles may not
often make the highlight reel after the game, they prevent the
offensive units from breaking away and making big plays.

DEFENSIVECOORDINATOR
A defensive coordinator typically refers to a coach on a football
team in the National Football League (or at other levels of
American football) who is in charge of the defense.
This position aids the head coach a great deal in many ways by
delegating play calling to other coaches and allowing the head coach
to focus on overall play and more important issues during games and
practice sessions. A defensive coordinator in the NFL typically has a
number of assistant coaches working under him; usually a defensive
line coach, a linebackers coach, and a
secondary coach. At lower levels the defensive coordinator may also
coach one or more of these positions, or one assistant coach may be
in charge of more than one position. The defensive coordinator
oversees all of these coaches and all the defensive players. He is
usually responsible for all defensive playcalling during the game; he
calls certain plays depending on what the game situation is and what
he expects the opposing offense to do, among
other factors.

DEFENSIVEEND:
(DE) a defensive position in the sport of American football.

This position has designated the
players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations
have substantially changed how the position is played over the years.

Early formations, with six and
seven man lines, used the end as a containment player, whose job was
first to prevent an "end run" around his position, then
secondarily to force plays inside.

When most teams adopted a five man
line, two different styles of end play developed: "crashing"
ends, who rushed into the backfield to disrupt plays, and
"stand-up" or "waiting" ends, who played the more
traditional containment style. Some coaches would use both techniques
depending on game situations.

Traditionally, D-ends are in a 3
point stance, with there other hand cocked back ready to punch the
offensive lineman. Some ends are bigger. They close down there gap so
the running back has no hole to run
through. Other ends are quicker. They are used to rush the quarterback.
They can often times, time the snap of the ball to get a jump on the
rush. Most of the time it is the job of the defensive end to keep
outside contain, which means that no one should get to their outside;
they must keep everything to the inside. The defensive ends are
usually fast for players of their size, often the fastest and
smallest players on the defensive line. They must be able to shed
blockers to get to the ball. Defensive ends are also often used to
cover the outside area of the line of scrimmage,
to tackle ball carriers running to
the far right or left side, and to defend against screen
passes. Defensive ends are usually the only players on the line
who are ever used to cover offensive players running receiving
routes, albeit ones that are very close to the line of scrimmage.

These guys are the heroes of the
defensive line, because they play the part of guided missile. As soon
as the ball is snapped to the quarterback, these two guys are
supposed to jump his creaking bones by any means possible before he
gets rid of it.

YOU KNOW THEYRE DOING THEIR
JOB WHEN: You see
the quarterback in the backfield running around like a rabbit being
chased by coyotes. Or flat on his back, like a rabbit caught by em.

YOU KNOW THEY ARENT WHEN:
The quarterback is standing around in the backfield, polishing his
nails, waiting for one of his receivers
to find some spare time to catch the ball.

DEFENSIVE FORMATION The
basic goal of every defense is to stop
opposing offenses from advancing down the
field, but there are many different philosophies on the best way to
accomplish that goal, including which formation is the best.

A defensive formation can be
defined as a predetermined allignment of defensive players on the
field. Theses are some of the more common defensive formations used
in the game of football today.

In order for coaches and players of
American football to exchange information in a rapid manner during
practices and games, a more or less standard terminology for
defensive schemes has been developed.

DEFENSIVEHOLDING:
Use of the hands to hold or push an offensive receiver
or back on a passing play beyond the first five
yards past the line of scrimmage.

Inside the five yard chuck zone,
the defense may jam the receiver, but after
that a penalty is called. Defensive holding results in a five-yard
penalty on the offending team and an automatic
first down.

Also Known As: Illegal Use of Hands

DEFENSIVE LINE: The
defensive players who line up on the line of scrimmage opposite the
offensive linemen. A team's first line of defense.

The defensive line is usually made
up of the biggest defensive players, including defensive ends and
tackles. Unless your The Indianpolis Colts with Dwight
Freeney and Robert Mathis!

DEFENSIVEPASS
INTERFERENCE - a defensive player physically hinders an
offensive player from catching a catchable forward pass that has not
been touched by any other player. Referee signal: same as offensive
pass interference - two arms in front of the body with palms out and
fingers up, moved in a pushing motion out.

NFL: An automatic first down and
the ball is moved forward to the location of the interference -- a
devastating penalty if the play was a long pass. If the interference
takes place in the end zone, the ball is placed on the one-yard line.

DEFENSIVE SECONDARY the
defensive secondary (or secondary), is the name for the
collection of Defensive Backs.

The main job of the secondary is to
be prepared to handle passing plays.

DEFENSIVE STRATEGY

The general goal of defensive
strategy is to prevent the opposing team's offense from scoring.
While doing so, the defensive players may also attempt to gain
control of the football and score points themselves. There are many
different defensive strategies.

Defensive formations

Players on the defensive side of
the ball are generally split between down linemen (tackles, defensive
ends and nose guards), linebackers, and defensive backs (safeties and
cornerbacks). To describe the basic defensive alignment of linemen,
linebackers and backs, the number of down linemen is usually followed
by the number of linebackers. By far the most common alignments are
four down linemen and three linebackers (4-3),
but alignments with three down linemen and four linebackers (3-4)
are currently used by a number of teams. The number of defensive
backs is usually not mentioned (as it is, for example, in describing
soccer alignments).

However, on plays where the defense
expects the offense to pass, emphasis is often placed on the number
of defensive backs. When one of the "front seven" (down
linemen and linebackers) is removed in favour of a defensive back,
the five defensive backs are described as a "nickel"
package. When a sixth defensive back is inserted, it is known as a
"dime" package.

Unusual defensive alignments are
rare, but often successful. In Super
Bowl XXV, the New York Giants played with only two down linemen,
with four linebackers and five defensive backs. The strategy was very
successful in preventing the Buffalo Bills from completing long
passes, but it allowed over 190 yards in rushing. Nevertheless, the
Giants won. Another example is the New England Patriots using no down
linemen and seven linebackers for two plays against the Miami
Dolphins during a Monday Night game in 2004.

Basic pass coverage

Even in obvious running situations,
the defense must be able to account for the eligible receivers on
offense. There are two general schemes for defending against the pass:

To create a shorthand, most
defensive schemes use the term "cover" (for pass coverage)
and a number to describe a combination of schemes. As in American
Football there are only five eligible pass receivers on a given play
(technically the quarterback is also an eligible receiver, but passes
to the quarterback, though known, are rare) while there are at least
seven pass defenders in 3-4 alignment in man-to-man defense, some of
the pass coverage personnel may either blitz (cross the line of
scrimmage with the down linemen in an attempt to sack the
quarterback), provide double coverage on a receiver, or help other
defensive players with the pass coverage. In zone coverage, all
defensive linebackers and backs have a pass coverage assignment.

Effective defense depends on
co-operation from defensive players and an understanding of what
coverage they are in. For example, in Cover Two, the cornerbacks are
afforded with the knowledge that if they decide to jump a route (and
thereby intercept or deflect a pass) they will have safety help
farther upfield should they be tricked by a fake. In Cover One, the
safety must be aware that one of the cornerbacks could have
difficulty covering a wide receiver, and must be available to move
over to help the cornerback before the quarterback can throw.
Typically Cover One is only used if there are more than two wide
receivers or other passing threats.

Moreover, mixing up defensive
alignments and not being predictable are important since if an
offense recognizes an alignment or coverage scheme, or a tendency to
use such a scheme, they can often take advantage of it. For example,
if the defense is blitzing, and the quarterback forsees it (for
example, one of the blitzing players moves towards the line of
scrimmage before the snap) the quarterback knows that it is
man-to-man coverage and will look for his fastest receiver to get
open, or throw to the spot that is vacated by the blitzing player.

Special Cases

In the modern game, with players
getting faster and stronger, defensive coordinators often look to a
player's special skills in order to surprise the offense. For
example, in some defensive schemes, defensive down linemen are given
pass coverage responsibility. Since Lawrence Taylor now rush three
down linemen and a single linebacker (often a different one on every
play), a strategy that was almost unknown before he started to play.
Moreover, even defensive backs are being given more responsibility on
running plays. For example, on plays where a running back runs wide,
it is the responsibility of the cornerback to ensure that the running
back does not get directly to the sideline, and that the back is
forced to run in front of the cornerback where there is more likely
to be help from linebackers.

Modern offenses have adapted to
these strategies, and often require different skills from players,
particularly running backs who, in addition to running with the ball,
are expected to run deep pass routes against linebacker coverage, and
to be available to block blitzing players on pass plays

"Special team" is the
term used to describe the specialized group of players who take the
field during kickoffs, free kicks, punts, and field goal attempts.
Most football teams' special teams include one or more kickers, a
long snapper (who specializes in accurate snaps over long distances),
kick returners who catch and carry the ball after it is kicked by
the opposing team, and blockers who defend during kicks and returns.

Some players may take the field as
members of the offense or defense as well as the special teams; one
notable example is Steve Smith, wide receiver for the NFL's Carolina
Panthers, who also played as a kick returner during the 2005 NFL
season, and was drafted primarily as a special teams player.

Although these are risky, there are
a variety of strategic plays which can be attempted during kickoffs,
punts, and field goals which can be used to surprise the opposition
and (hopefully) score points.

Kickoff strategy

A kickoff occurs at the beginning
of each half and each overtime period, as well as after a successful
field goal or touchdown. A coin toss determines which team kicks the
ball away and which team receives the ball. After a field goal or a
touchdown, the team which scored the points kicks the ball to the
opposing team, which in most cases catches the ball and may attempt
to "return" it up the field.

Strategically, the coach of the
kicking team may choose to have his players kick the ball in one of
several ways:

Field goals are often viewed as a way for teams to
turn a disappointing drive into a small victory. However, many
football games are decided by field goals in the final minutes or
seconds of play, making the ability to kick an accurate field goal
vital for any football team.

The strategy for a field goal is fairly
straightforward. The team on offense forms a protective semicircle
behind the line of scrimmage on either side of the center, who snaps
the ball to the holder. The holder positions the ball so that the
kicker - moving from a short distance away - can quickly get into
position and accurately kick the ball through the goalposts. The
remaining players block the opposing team, whose members will be
trying to break through the protective circle in order to block the
kick or bat it aside for a chance to intercept the ball. If a team
misses the field goal, the opposing team takes possession of the ball
without a kickoff.

Distance, the amounts of wind and noise within the
stadium, and the amount of experience the kicker has are all
determining factors in the success or failure of a field goal
attempt. The majority of successful field goal attempts are kicked
within 50 yards of the goalpost. However, some kickers can - and
often do - make good kicks from farther away. The current NFL record
for the longest successful field goal was set in 1970 by Tom Dempsey
of the New Orleans Saints, who kicked from 63 yards out. It should be
noted that Dempsey had a specially shaped prosthetic foot that
enabled him to make such long kicks, and that such prosthetics have
since been banned. Jason Elam of the Denver Broncos tied this record
in 1998.

Modern kickers use a soccer style kick, which involves
taking a diagonal approach to the ball and kicking with the inside of
the foot. Many kickers in the 1950s and earlier kicked the ball by
lining up directly behind it and approaching straight ahead. This is
still seen today in a limited capacity in high school and college football.

In some situations, a coach may choose to have his
team fake a field goal attempt. The players line up as normal, but
instead of holding the ball for a kick, the player receiving the snap
may run with the ball, hand it off to another player, or attempt to
throw it downfield. This play is quite risky and therefore not used often.

It is possible for the defensive team to return a
missed field goal, although this is attempted very rarely. If a field
goal attempt is short of the goal posts and the ball is caught by a
defensive player before it hits the ground, the player may return the
ball just as on a punt. Teams usually try a return only when a very
long field goal is attempted at the end of the first half, since in
all other cases it is more advantageous for the defense to just let
the ball fall short. Recently, returns of this type have happened in
2002 (Chris McAlister of the Baltimore Ravens, for 107 yards versus
the Denver Broncos), 2005 (Nathan Vasher of the Chicago Bears, for
108 yards versus the San Francisco 49ers; this currently holds the
record for longest play in NFL history), and 2006 (Devin Hester, also
of the Bears, tied the previous record of 108 with a return against
the New York Giants).

Punting strategy

Most teams punt on fourth down when the chances of
gaining enough yards for a first down are slim and when the ball is
too far from the goalpost to allow a field goal try. Generally, a
member of the opposing team moves into position to catch the ball. He
may try to gain yards by running the ball downfield, or he may signal
a fair catch by waving one arm above his head, thus agreeing that he
will not attempt to return the ball downfield. A player who has
signalled a fair catch may not be tackled after catching the ball.

In some cases, a coach may attempt trickery by
switching between his offense and special teams players between
plays. A coach may call a time-out, send the kicking team onto the
field, and then when the play clock resumes quickly run his offense
back on and his kicking team off, hopefully disorienting the
defending team enough to advance on the ensuing play or cause a
penalty if the defending team cannot switch personnel quickly enough.
However, this trickery can also result in penalties against the
offense if the play takes too long (delay of game) or if too many
players remain on the field when the ball is snapped.

Occasionally a coach will line his team up in a
shotgun formation and have the quarterback "quick kick" or
"pooch punt" -- using the element of surprise to cause the
defense not to have a receiver ready.

In much the same way as a fake field goal (described
above), a fake punt is an effort to trick the opposition and either
score or gain enough yards for a first down. Fake punts are risky for
the same reasons as fake field goals and are thus rarely attempted.

Punts out-of-bounds

Skilled punters may try to punt a ball past the return
team so that the ball touches the playing field in bounds, then rolls
out of bounds close to the opposing team's end zone. The drawback to
such a punt is that the ball may roll into the end zone (touchback),
giving the receiving team decent field position. Or, if the kick is
angled too sharply, it will go out of bounds too early and result in
an unusually short punt. The best punters are highly regarded for
their ability to put the ball out of bounds within five yards of the
goal line. These punts are also known as "coffin corner
punts" due to their ability to act as a "coffin nail"
to an opposing offense.

Receiving kicks

The biggest choice facing a kick returner is whether
or not to attempt to run the ball back. Generally, a returner who
catches a kickoff or punt in the "red zone" between the
receiving team's own end zone and 20 yard line will attempt some sort
of return, if only to gain a few yards. If the receiving team's
players can get into position quickly, they may be able to allow the
returner to gain further yardage or break away from the pack entirely
and score a touchdown.

DEFENSIVETACKLE: (DT)
(sometimes called a defensive guard), A defensive player - are
linemen who line up inside the defensive ends.

The duties of a defensive tackle
include stopping the running back on
running plays, getting pressure up the middle on passing plays, and
occupying blockers so the linebackers can
roam free.

Defensive Tackles, or DT's, are
typically the largest and strongest of the defensive players. The
defensive tackle typically lines up opposite one of the offensive
guards. Depending on a team's individual defensive scheme, a
defensive tackle may be called upon to fill several different roles.
These roles may include merely holding the point of attack by
refusing to be moved, or penetrating a certain gap between offensive
linemen to break up a play in the opponent's backfield. If a
defensive tackle reads a pass play, his primary responsibilty is to
pursue the quarterback. Other responsibilities of
the defensive tackle may be to pursue the screen
pass or drop into coverage in a zone blitz scheme.

In the 3-4 defensive scheme the
sole defensive tackle is referred to as the nose guard.
The primary responsibility of the defensive tackle in this scheme is
to absorb multiple blockers so that other players in the defensive
front can attack ballcarriers and rush the quarterback.

Jersey
Numbers: 60 - 79

Why they have the term as a
"TACKLE" is beyond me,They do all sorts of things, but
generally speaking, tackling isnt usually one of em. Given any kind
of choice, theyd love to clobber somebody, but in truth, mostly they
just end up plugging up the inside running lanes while they grapple
with the big guys on the other side.

If you had to define their job, it
would be to make sure those zippy ball carriers
dont manage to run down the center of the field. So, in theory, they
cover that A gap between the opposing center
and the guard outside of them on the line, and something called the B
gap, which exists between the opposing guard and the tackle
outside of them on the line, making sure nobody carrying the ball
runs through there.

Ok so theyre trying to stop a guy
with the ball: why dont they tackle em? Well, they would if they
could get at em. But ordinarily the guy with the ball, seeing the
defensive tackle there, slobbering in anticipation, will seek an
alternate route, and the opposing guard and tackle will do their best
to discourage people like the defensive tackles from going after him.

Of course, sometimes they get lucky
and the guy with the ball decides to take his chances and goes for
one of the gaps. At that point, all the tackle has to do is bully his
way past the opposing guard and tackle who are there pretty much
specifically to impede him, and then jump on top of the guy with the
ball before hes too far out of reach.

YOU KNOW THEYRE DOING THEIR
JOB WHEN: Same as
the nose
tackle: nobody takes the ball on the hoof and prances
down the middle of the field without tasting turf.

YOU KNOW THEYRE NOT WHEN: The
other team treats the A and B gaps
like exits on the Jersey Turnpike.

DELAY OF GAME:
A penalty called on a team for either letting the play
clock expire before snapping the ball,
having too many players on the field, or calling a time out after
having already used all they were allotted by rule.

The 40-second play
clock starts running
immediately when the previous play ends. If there is a timeout or
other stoppage of play, a 25-second play clock starts from when the
ball is spotted and declared ready for play.

Referee
signal: Two forearms in front of chest parallel to the body with open
fists, one on top of the other.

This penalty can be called on
either offense or defense,
but the foul is most commonly committed by the offense. The penalty
occurs on offense when they allow the play clock to run down to zero
without snapping the ball. The penalty can be called on the defense
if the referees feel that the defense did not allow the offense to
get the play off in time for any reason. A similar foul is delay on kickoff.

He is most widely
known for his NFL record 63 yard field goal, kicked in the final 5
seconds to give the New Orleans Saints a 19-17 win over the Detroit
Lions on 8
November 1970.
This record still stands (as of the start of the 2006 season),
although it was equalled by Jason Elam of the Denver Broncos on October
25th 1998.

Dempsey was born with
no right hand, and a right club foot, with no toes on his right foot
(which was his kicking foot). He wore a modified shoe with a
flattened and enlarged toe area, giving somewhat the appearance of a
hammer. He used a straight approach to kick the ball as opposed to
the "soccer style" used by nearly all place kickers today.
Dempsey's accomplishment led to the NFL passing a rule requiring that
all footgear be "normal" (their term) regardless of the
kicker's personal situation.

DENVER
BRONCOS -
AFC West

The Denver Broncos
American football club is a National Football League team based in Denver,
Colorado.
The Broncos began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American
Football League and joined the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL Merger.

The Denver Broncos
were a small-market team that met with little success in their early
years but have since become one of the elite franchises of the league
after having advanced to the Super
Bowl six
times. In their first four appearances, they suffered successively
lopsided defeats, achieving near-legendary status as frustrated
losers before winning back-to-back Super Bowl championships in 1998
and 1999 under quarterback
John Elway, running
back
Terrell Davis and coach Mike Shanahan.

For most of their
history they played in Mile High Stadium, which became one of the
shrines of professional football for its unbroken string of sell-outs
and its famous home-field advantage percentage for the Broncos,
especially during the post-season. Mile High Stadium was one of the
NFL's loudest stadiums, with steel flooring instead of concrete,
which may have given the Broncos an advantage over opponents. Since
2001, they have played at INVESCO Field at Mile High, built next to
the former site of Mile High Stadium.

City:
Denver,
Colorado

Head Coach:
Mike Shanahan

Uniform colors:
"Broncos Navy Blue", Orange,
and White

Helmet design:
Navy Blue background with a white horse-head profile.

Home fields

Mile High Stadium (1960-2000)INVESCO
Field at Mile High (2001-present)

DEPTH CHART An NFL team roster with
players classified as 1st, 2nd, or 3rd string.

DETROIT
LIONS - NFCNorth

The Detroit Lions
American football club is a National Football League team based in Detroit,
Michigan.
Originally called the Portsmouth Spartans, the team began play in
1930 as one of the NFL's small town teams in Portsmouth,
Ohio.
However, they were forced to move to Detroit
in 1934 due to the Great Depression.

Detroit,
Michigan
had four early teams in the National Football League before the
Detroit Lions. The Heralds played in 1920. The Tigers in 1921. The
Panthers from 1925-1926 and the Wolverines in 1928.

Teams normally use
four defensive backs. When a fifth defensive back comes in the game,
he is referred to as the nickel
back.
When the sixth defensive back comes in, he is refered to as the dime back.

A dimeback is a cornerback
who serves as the sixth defensive back on defense.
The third cornerback on defence is known as a nickelback. The
dimeback position is essentially relegated to backup cornerbacks who
do not play starting cornerback positions. Dimebacks are usually fast
players because they must be able to keep up on passing plays with 3+ wide
receivers.

Usually, dimebacks
are brought onto the feild before plays that have a good possibility
of becoming pass plays. Usually, a linebacker
is substituted for a cornerback in order to gain better pass defence.

DIME
COVERAGE: A
pass coverage scheme that involves the use of six defensive
backs.

If you take a look at the
illustration on the right, you will see a diagram outlining the dime
defense. The Os in the diagram represent offensive players while the
Xs represent the placement of the defensive players.

DION SANDERS RULE
the Deion Sanders rule Player salary rule which correlates a
contract's signing bonus with its yearly salary. Enacted after
Deion Sanders signed

DIRECT SNAP a
play in which the ball is passed directly to the presumed ball
carrier
by the center.
Contrast with an indirect snap play in which the ball is first
handed to the quarterback,
who will then pass or hand it to the eventual ball carrier. Also
used to refer to formations that use a direct snap, such as the
single wing.

Mike Fender / The Star

Colts QB
Peyton Manning (18) looks to receiver
Brandon Stokley as a diversion during a direct snap to Edgerrin James
in the fourth quarter. The trick play gained five yards and help set
up the Colts only touchdown on the day giving the Indianapolis
Colts a 10-3 victory Sunday
September 18, 2005
at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis,
Indiana.

DIVISION: in
the NFL, sub-groups within conferences, such as the Eastern,
Northern, Southern and Western Divisions; also, a grouping of teams
in college football, where Division I contains the most competitive
teams and Division III the least.

Double coverage is a state of
defensive playcalling wherein two defensive players are assigned to
"cover" one offensive player. This situation is often seen
with standout wide receivers and running
backs.

Note:
It's actually extremely rare to nonexistent to have 2 DBs man-cover
a single receiver. Commentators who use the term
"double-coverage" almost always mean a CB covering a WR
man-to-man, with a safety playing over the top (typically trying
to stay in front of the WR's route) for deep ball assistance.

DOUBLE FOUL:
A situation in which each team commits a foul during the same play.

A double foul usually results
in offsetting penalties that negate the result of the play.

DOUBLEOPTION PLAY
The double option is essentially the same play minus the first running
back. In addition, various forms of the double option and triple
option may allow the quarterback the choice of
passing the ball. In this case, the pitch read is faked, with the
quarterback motioning as if to pitch, before the quarterback drops
into the pocket in preparation to pass.

DOUBLEREVERSE
a play in which the ball reverses direction twice behind the line
of scrimmage. This is usually accomplished by means of two or
three hand-offs, each hand-off going in an opposite direction as the
previous one. Such a play is extremely infrequent in football.

Some people confuse the double
reverse with a reverse, which is a play with two hand-offs instead of three.

DOWN
one of a series of plays in which the offensive team must advance at
least 10 yards or lose possession. First down is the first of the
plays; fourth is the last down in American, and third in Canadian,
football. A first down occurs after a change of possession of the
ball, after advancing the ball 10 yards following a previous first
down or after certain penalties.

a down refers to a period in which a play transpires.

Down is also an adjective to describe the condition of the player
with possession of the ball after he has been tackled or is otherwise
unable to advance the ball further on account of the play having
ended (e.g., "He is down at the 34 yard line").

It may also refer to the ball after it is made dead in one manner or
another. The line of scrimmage for the
next play will be determined by the position of the ball when it is downed.

A down begins with a snap or kickoff or free kick, and ends when the
ball or the player in possession of it is declared down by an
official, a team scores, or the ball or player in possession of it
leaves the field of play.

Each possession begins with first down. The first down line is marked
10 yards downfield from the start of this possession. If the
offensive team moves the ball past the first down line, they make a
new first down. If they fail to do this after a specified number of
downs (four in American play and three in Canadian play), the team is
said to turn the ball over on downs, and possession of the ball
reverts to the opposing team at the spot where the ball was downed at
the end of the last down.

When the offensive team has not yet made a first down before reaching
the final down, the team faces a last down situation (third down
situation in Canadian play and fourth down situation in American
play), where the team is forced to decide whether to either scrimmage
the ball in an attempt to pick up the first down, or alternatively to
kick the ball (either by punting or making a field goal attempt).
Kicking the ball is typically the safer solution, while scrimmaging
may lead to a turnover on downs, potentially giving the ball over to
the other team with good field position.

Downing the player with possession of the ball is one way to end a
play (other ways include the player with the ball going out of
bounds, an incomplete pass, or a score). Usually a player is made
down when he is tackled by the defense. If the
offensive player is touching the ground with some part of his body
other than his hands or feet, then he is down if any defensive player
touches him

Terminology

1st and 10: First down with 10 yards to go for a new first
down. The usual starting point for a possession.

2nd and 5: Second down with 5 yards to go. Similarly,
2nd and 10, 3rd and 2, etc.

3rd and long: In American football, third down with an
unspecified but significant distance to go. Often used as a metaphor
for a desperate situation that demands risky actions be taken. The